There's Kismet with its big eyes, slightly curved lips, and quirky animal ears. Sit in front of it, and you'll be amazed by how it engages in natural, almost human, interaction. It smiles, scowls, and then turns demure and coy. You may find yourself following suit if you get a chance to meet it. Down the hall from Kismet is Cog, a tall and lanky collection of metal, wires, and microprocessors that vaguely resembles a person with its humanlike torso and arms.
Cog stands idle and disinterested at the moment.
But a team of researchers is hard at work on a common-sense idea that is really rather revolutionary. Sounds logical, so MIT researchers are programming Cog to watch human behavior through its video-camera eyes, and then mimic, remember, and reenact movements and mannerisms just as humans do. Here, the possibilities are boundless. Robots may still seem more like science fiction than science, but in the past several years, robot technology and artificial intelligence have progressed far beyond R2-D2 and the Grand Master. And while much of the world is preoccupied with deciphering the Internet and its revenue streams, big thinkers have moved on to the robotic future.