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 The robot head, known as 'Han', can also hold simple interactive
conversations with the crowd.
At the touch of a button using a mobile phone app, Han can smile,
wince, frown, wink, or even act drunk.
About 40 motors control his face to form delicate facial
expressions, according to product manager at Hanson Robotics, Grace
Copplestone.
The robot can also respond to his environment, thanks to several
cameras inside his eyes and chest.
"So Han's really exciting because not only can he generate very
realistic facial expressions, but he can also interact with the
environment around him. So he has cameras on his eyes and on his
chest, which allow him to recognize people's face, not only that,
but recognize their gender, their age, whether they are happy or
sad, and that makes him very exciting for places like hotels for
example, where you need to appreciate the customers in front of you
and react accordingly," Copplestone said.
During the Global Sources electronics show, in which Han gave
demonstrations every hour, visitors could also have a simple
conversation with him.
One visitor, businessman Harbhajan Singh Sethi from Mumbai, joked
with the robot, "I think you are perfect man for my wife," to which
Han quipped, "I don't have to do whatever you say. I have my own
free will."
Sethi said he found it fun to talk to the robot: "It was fun and it
was interesting. He's answering you. He's answering you to the
point."
Another visitor, Xiao Yong, who owns a technology company in the
southern Shenzhen city, said he was also impressed by the robot.
"I think it's very magical, because the robot's facial expressions
are very rich. When I greeted him, he responded. When I asked him to
smile, he smiled. He can flirt and wink. It's magical. It's very
well made," Xiao said.
Copplestone added that some of the robotic technology, such as
facial recognition, is available on open source; meaning robot
developers around the world can use the same software.
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A unique feature of Han is his human-like skin, which is created by
a patented material called "Frubber," short for "Flesh Rubber", an
elastic polymer.
Copplestone said the human-like robot heads could serve a range of
functions, especially where face-to-face communications is
important.
"There are three markets we are really excited about. One is
hospitality, so for example, the receptionist behind desk and
hotels. The second one is entertainment, so casinos, theme parks and
museums. And the third is health care, and that's in two ways. One
is medical simulation. If you can provide doctors with mannequins
that have very realistic facial expressions on them, that provides a
very beneficial piece of training to the doctor, and the mannequin
can travel over the world to do that. Another area of medical care
is for the elderly. We believe a human face on a robot makes it far
more approachable, and efficient, and effective in caring for older
people."
The Hong Kong based company aims to commercialize Han's technology
on a different face, an Eurasian female called Eva, and plans to
produce hundreds of Evas this year. The price is yet to be
determined.
Han made its debut to the public earlier this year in January,
during the Digital-Life-Design fair in Germany.
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