Meet Alpha 2, the singing, dancing sidekick who can help with homework.
Alpha 2, the first humanoid robot designed for household service, ships this month (Feb 2016) as its developers promise to deliver the robot we always dreamed of as kids. He’s our tutor and interpreter, home security guard, nurse, storyteller and weatherman, all while keeping us on task and on time.
He’s not human size, but this mini-me is the “perfect little companion.” So, move over Siri, because Alpha 2 is smarter than you—and has appendages.
Alpha 2 has a built-in intelligent voice system with the ability to “chat,” for those lonely text-filled days when all you really need is someone to talk to. Plus, he’s got infrared, ultrasonic, acceleration, touch and gesture sensors, an 8 million-pixel camera, and 20 joints replicating human motion. He’ll sing, dance and do yoga. Finally, someone who won’t judge us on the dance floor or while learning those tricky yoga poses.
UBTech, the company that makes Alpha 2, has designed the robot to be expandable via the cloud-based Alpha store, allowing our 5-pound Wi-Fi friend to be updated with new functions. In fact, app developers are encouraged to participate in the open systems platform in order to create apps to help Alpha 2 grow.
Amazingly, this smarty-pants has artificial intelligence capabilities that analyze voice, comprehension, interaction, language, words, and sentences through big data on the cloud end of the internet, providing simultaneous interpretation by real-time online searching.
In the future, UBTech’s humanoid robots will not simply be used for household services, but, through the built-in technology of “emotional artificial intelligence,” they’ll be able to detect the emotional state and physical response of medical patients.
Imagine the possibilities. Now, if only he could do dishes.
