Written on April 4, 2008 – 7:55 am | by Bogdan Alex |
The androids and complex robots currently at large are still far away from the concept presented in the Star Trek TNG series. You remember Data, that cool android struggling to become as human as he can possibly be. Maybe you’ve seen what the Japanese guys designed in the past, but you can’t really compare those androids with Data, not even in terms of movement and facial expression. Now, there’s a new kid in town, and it knows a trick or two about human emotions.

Nexi is the latest embodiment of MIT's robotic ideas. The Personal Robots Group at MIT designed this robot to take the form of a female entity. She proudly presents herself as a"Mobile Dextrous Social" machine that’s able to simulate many human emotions. Apart from her fully articulated arms, she's got a mechanized set of eyebrows and eyelids that can reproduce basic human emotions. The design isn’t revolutionary at all, but remember this is just a test prototype and features such as synthetic skin and hair could be added at a later time.

The female robot is apparently about the size of a three year-old child, with arms that can lift up to ten pounds of weight. She also integrates a two-wheel balancing movement that resembles the Segway principle. Each eye hides a color camera, while the forehead is equipped with an IR camera for 3D object perception and four microphones for spatial sound.
For the time being, Nex only explores human-machine interactions and social learning. The MIT team even foresees robots like Nexi having a role in healthcare, eldercare and education.Here's a short clip with Nexi presenting herself: