Humanlike Robot Is Disgusted You’re Disgusted At Its Facial Emotional Range

Most advanced robots are built to wear many hats. As for ‘Ameca’, the humanoid bot by Engineered Arts, it’s designed to convey a full gamut of emotions, moving machines beyond Uncanny Valley.

Unveiled last year, Ameca now has 12 new facial actuators to make its robotic equivalent to facial muscles move more fluidly and portray new feelings. Previously, it could “wake up” from a nap and depict glee, surprise, contemplation, anger, and more—but a new demonstration shows that it can also wink, roll its eyes, scowl, cringe, among other reactions.

Last year, it was revealed that Ameca is deliberately gender- and race-free to be able to empathically resonate with humans. As such, it’s also trained to perform non-verbal cues, like wave, point, yawn, and gesture for someone to repeat themselves.

Ameca has cameras in its eyes to literally read the room and monitor movements. It can also recognize people’s faces and voices, looking closely to identify emotions and other factors of human communication.

Interestingly, the robotics firm has even taken a dig at Tesla’s upcoming robot in its video, with one person in the background watching Elon Musk’s presentation featuring a dancing human in a costume. The researcher promptly switches to a work-related tab upon realizing he is being watched.

[via Futurism and TweakTown, video and screenshots via Engineered Arts]