Meet Erica, life-like robot who will soon become a TV news anchor

Erica was created in Osaka University, Japan by Hiroshi Ishiguro.

Erica currently serves as the receptionist at Hiroshi Ishiguro’s lab in Osaka University (HiroshiIshiguroLab/YouTube)

As creepy as it may sound, but robots are becoming more and more human-like. Scientists are developing robots using artificial intelligence to make robots look, feel, and behave like human beings. With further developments, these robots are slowly making their presence felt in the human world. Meet Erica, a humanoid poised as a 23-year old who is going to soon become a TV news anchor.

Erica is the offspring of Hiroshi Ishiguro, professor at the Intelligent Robotics Laboratory of Osaka University. The Wall Street Journal reports Erica making its TV debut in a Japan this April. Similar to Sophia, Erica has very human-like features and expressions. As seen in a video posted by Bloomberg, Erica is capable of making conversations with a human. Ishiguro proudly says that Erica has the most beautiful face in the world. She's also serving as a receptionist/secretary in Ishiguro's laboratory.

Ishiguro demonstrates conversing with Erica in Japanese wherein the humanoid even shows a reaction of being slightly annoyed. The process isn't smooth as yet, as Erica did pause in between conversations. Erica doesn't move her body while speaking but you can see some facial movements during the conversation. She can also recognize which human is speaking to through the use of 14 infrared sensors, and facial recognition technology, reports Daily Mail.

Ishiguro's aim is to fill Erica with emotions and desires of her own. The humanoid will also be trained to understand a person's emotions and desires. Scientists are using artificial intelligence to make not just robots, but simply bots more human-like. The challenge is not just to do human-like things, but also express emotions and feelings.

Another example of such a development is the Hanson Robotics' life-like robot Sophia, which made its presence at the Future Investment Initiative. Sophia, while answering questions tries to be witty and even gives a creepy smile which definitely needs to be worked on.

However patchy things might still be with these developing humanoids, seeing them become a part of the human world shouldn't be a surprise. Erica and Sophia may not be humorous enough, but their capabilities could soon pose a threat to the human world.