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Remember Sophia the robot that argued with Elon Musk? Version 2.0 is coming, thanks to Covid-19, and her name is Grace
- Sophia the Hong Kong-made robot generated headlines for crossing Elon Musk, gaining Saudi citizenship and addressing the UN
- Her successor, Grace, inspired by Covid-19, will be created to look after the elderly
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The Hong Kong-based team behind the lifelike robot Sophia has launched a new model that promises to revolutionise the health care industry.
Grace is a robotic assistant for elderly care that is designed to mimic and learn from the person she interacts with, according to Ben Goertzel, an expert in artificial intelligence. That self-learning process can customise future conversations, which in turn can help Grace to bond with the user and detect early signs of dementia from their reaction patterns.
“Grace’s comforting and human manner relaxes patients and allows for important collection of biodata to assist patients, provide much needed support and lead to major discoveries in areas like neural degenerative diseases,” explains Goertzel.
American robotics designer David Hanson, who built Sophia with Goertzel, says they have been looking at applications in health care for a long time but the Covid-19 pandemic has been “a catalyst”.
“It pushed us to prioritise elderly care,” Hanson says. “We believe humanoid robots can reshape the medical industry.”
Ji Siqi joined the Post in 2020 and covers China economy. She graduated from Columbia Journalism School and the University of Hong Kong.
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