Japanese Robot, Saya, Can Smile, Express 6 Emotions

The Japanese have a robot, Saya, that can express some 6 different emotions – surprise, fear, disgust, anger, happiness, sadness.

Believe it or not, that’s more emotions than you can get out of the basic Japanese who are generally impassive.

In a demonstration, Saya’s mouth opened, ‘her’ eyes widened and eyebrows arched to appear surprised.

She pulled back on her lips to make a smile, and said simple phrases such as “Thank you,” while its lips moved, to express pleasure.

“Robots that look human tend to be a big hit with young children and the elderly,” said a Tokyo University of Science professor and Saya’s developer. “Children even start crying when they are scolded.”

The robot’s maker warns – “Saya is just meant to help people and warns against getting hopes up too high for its possibilities. The robot has no intelligence. It has no ability to learn. It has no identity,” he said. “It is just a tool.”

Come to think of it, I remember my teacher used to day those things about me.