CASE STUDY soPhia The roboT Sophia is a social humanoid robot developed by Hanson Robotics, an engineering and robotics company founded by David Hanson, known for its development of human-like robots with artificial intelligence for entertainment, service, healthcare, and research applications. Sophia was first activated on February 14, 2016. She imitates human gestures and facial expressions and is able to answer certain questions and to make simple conversations on predefined topics. Hanson designed Sophia to be a companion for the elderly at nursing homes, to help people at big events or parks, or to serve in customer service, therapy, and educational applications, and he hopes that the robot can interact with other humans sufficiently to gain social skills. Communication: one of Sophia s most impressive features is her ability to communicate using natural language. She uses machine learning algorithms to analyse and understand the meaning of human speech, which allows her to carry on conversations with people. Besides, mouth, face and whole body motion are synchronised with speech output. Facts about Sophia Special abilities: in January 2018, Sophia was upgraded with functional legs and the ability to walk. In 2019, Sophia displayed the ability to create drawings, including portraits. Appearance: Sophia is designed to resemble a human, with camera eyes and microphone ears that allow her to see and hear like a person. To make Sophia even more humanlike, she is equipped with patented artificial skin. The robot s creator designed her with inspiration from actress Audrey Hepburn, ancient Egyptian queen Nefertiti, and his wife, Amanda Hanson. Learning: Sophia is programmed to learn from her interactions and experiences, which makes her unique. She uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to adapt to new situations and improve her capabilities. Motion: Sophia has 74 degrees of freedom, articulated fingers, arms and shoulders, and each hand can carry loads of 600 gr. Public appearances: Sophia has made many appearances on TV where she has been interviewed by journalists, talked with politicians, and even performed on stage. During an interview in October 2017, Sophia was granted citizenship in Saudi Arabia. to grant: concedere nursing home: casa di cura 3 answer the questions. 1. What is Sophia? What was she designed for? 2. What makes her appearance so human-like? 3. What are Sophia s motion abilities? 4 Sophia the robot tells UN: I am here to help humanity create the future class WorK Watch this video about Sophia s speech at the UN, then posted by Guardian News discuss the given points. 1. What is Sophia s main goal? Do you agree with her answer? 2. What does she say about the fact that many people in the world do not have Internet access or electricity? Do you think that her vision about the future of AI is possible? aUToMaTioN aND roboTics 277 Elettronica-Informatica.indb 277 25/01/24 16:10