Sophia, the robot, channels her inner Bengali in a red saree in Kolkata

World’s first humanoid robot Sophia reached India to attend a technology-based interactive session in Kolkata. At the City of Joy, the AI managed to steal everyone’s heart in her red-and-white traditional Bengali saree.

World’s first humanoid robot Sophia reached India to attend a technology-based interactive session in Kolkata. At the City of Joy, the AI managed to steal everyone’s heart in her red-and-white traditional Bengali saree. (Twitter)

World's first humanoid robot Sophia reached India to attend a technology-based interactive session in Kolkata. At the City of Joy, the AI managed to steal everyone's heart in her red-and-white traditional Bengali saree.

Speaking at the event, 'Meet and Greet First Robot Citizen - SOPHIA', the humanoid not only managed to pull off the ethnic wear with elan, but showcased a great deal of humour as well.

Sophia who is visiting India for the second time was welcomed with the beats of the traditional dhaak. She had come to IIT Bombay in December 2017.

During the course of the interaction, when Sophia was asked about citizenship, the bot seemed amused by the question and replied that she had come in a suitcase from her home that is a lab in Hong Kong and as a result did not require a passport.

Sophia also claimed to know about the Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore and expressed her wish to visit Jorasanko Thakurbari, which was his residence, to see his works.

The interaction also saw Sophia advise engineering students on their upcoming exams. She told them to study hard, but not depend on memorising texts.

Experts present at the event asked her a huge variety of things pertaining to how robots can help in the medical field to whether robots would take over the world someday and also if she missed something.

Contrary to what humans may have come to expect from robots, Sophia said she missed food. She said that the scientists should work towards developing taste buds in robots so that they do not have to miss out on Mishti Doi -- a popular Bengali dessert.

On being asked if in the future robots can replace doctors, she said robots can help add finesse to a doctor's work but they cannot replace anyone. Sophia also informed that Artifical Intelligence is being used to create vaccine for coronavirus which has claimed more than 2,000 lives till now.

The humanoid added that efforts are on to stop and eliminate the growth of cancer cells.