The Smile of Ameca

UK-based company Engineered Arts showed off one of its creations in a YouTube video in late 2021. The humanoid robot Ameca makes a series of fascinating human-like facial expressions. The Verge magazine describes this process: „At the start of the video, Ameca appears to ‚wake up,‘ as its face conveys a mix of confusion and frustration when it opens its eyes. But when Ameca starts looking at its hands and arms, the robot opens its mouth and raises its brows in what it looks like is amazement. The end of the video shows Ameca smiling and holding a welcoming hand out towards the viewer – if that’s how you want to interpret that gesture.“ (The Verge, 5 December 2021) However, this smile does not turn out perfectly – a problem that affects all androids. Almost every emotional movement can now be simulated well – except for the one whose expression is the smile. Only when this problem is solved will Sophia, Erica, and Ameca be able to get out of Uncanny Valley.

Fig.: Ameca (Photo: Engineered Arts)

From Teledildonics to Roboethics

The second international congress on „Love and Sex with Robots“ will be taking place in London, from 19 to 20 December 2016. Topics are robot emotions, humanoid robots, clone robots, entertainment robots, teledildonics, intelligent electronic sex hardware and roboethics. In the introduction it is said: „Within the fields of Human-Computer Interaction and Human-Robot Interaction, the past few years have witnessed a strong upsurge of interest in the more personal aspects of human relationships with these artificial partners. This upsurge has not only been apparent amongst the general public, as evidenced by an increase in coverage in the print media, TV documentaries and feature films, but also within the academic community.“ (Website LSR 2016) The congress „provides an excellent opportunity for academics and industry professionals to present and discuss their innovative work and ideas in an academic symposium“ (Website LSR 2016). According to the CfP, full papers should „be no more than 10 pages (excluding references) and extended abstracts should be no more than 3 pages (excluding references)“ (Website LSR 2016). More information via loveandsexwithrobots.org.

Logo_Congress

Fig.: Logo and mascot of the congress