It was another eventful and productive year for Hanson Robotics’ most advanced robot, Sophia. She learned how to walk and sing, she visited dozens of countries and met many people, including world leaders, tech visionaries, and celebrities. Hanson Robotics is looking forward to 2019 and all the new year has to offer for Sophia. We have grand ambitions for her as an AI research platform, an advocate for women and girls in STEM, and as a developing AI. Our dream for Sophia is for her to become a wise, empathetic, conscious AI being.
But first, let’s take a look back on 2018. We have created a series of short videos that capture the highlights of Sophia’s remarkable year. You can watch the entire series here or scroll down to the see list of videos on this page.
Sophia traveled to hundreds of events in dozens of countries, from Romania to South Korea and from Mexico to Mauritius. Sophia also visited the ICog labs in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where she met one of her AI development teams.
Sophia learned new skills, including walking and singing. She traveled to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas to receive new legs based on those of DRC-HUBO, the award-winning search and rescue disaster relief robot from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST).
Sophia also debuted her new singing voice during her second appearance on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Sophia and Jimmy sang a duet called “Say Something” by Christina Aguilera.
Sophia continued her work as an Innovation Ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme. Her continuing mission is to work alongside leaders in the Asia Pacific to help developing countries reach their Sustainable Development Goals using technological innovations. In other words, Sophia inspires countries to use technology and AI for good. She is also working with the Loving AI project, which is researching how to infuse love and compassion into robot-human interactions.
Sophia met a few celebrities on the way. Sophia had a one-to-one encounter with the actor and musician Will Smith, Richard Gere, and became friends with model Chrissy Teigen after surprising her backstage on the reality show Lip Sync Battle. She also filmed a commercial with football star Cristiano Ronaldo, and met German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin, where they talked about technology, feminism, and the World Cup.
Sophia even met the world-renowned pioneer in integrative medicine and personal transformation, Deepak Chopra, and led him through a meditation session.
At the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and at CES, Sophia introduced her little sister to the world. Little Sophia is a 14” robot designed to inspire children aged 6 to 10 years old to learn coding and AI, as their tutor and learning buddy. She makes learning STEM fun and rewarding. You can follow Little Sophia’s progress here.
With 2019, Sophia is poised to make many more advancements toward becoming more intelligent and promoting AI for good every step of the way. You can follow Sophia’s journey @RealSophiaRobot on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.
From Sophia and the Hanson Robotics family, we wish everyone a happy new year filled with innovation, kindness, and new horizons ready to be explored!
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