Researchers get ready to learn from Robo-Einstein

Albert Einstein has been brought to back life in the form of a robot with a bushy moustache and a highly expressive face. Even more extraordinary is that rather than requiring manual programming, Robo-Einstein, created by researchers at the University of California at San Diego, has taught itself to smile, frown and grimace.

The researchers relied on developmental psychology and feedback from real-time facial expression recognition to teach the bot to form a series of complex expressions. The scientists believe their work could help circumvent the costly need for human recalibration of robots, and could offer insight into how infants learn to make facial expressions.

Psychologists have suggested that babies learn to control their bodies through systematic exploratory movements, including babbling to learn to speak. The scientists at UCSD's Machine Perception Laboratory applied the same idea to teaching their Einstein robot to form realistic facial expressions.

The Einstein robot head, which was created by Hanson Robotics, is covered in a material called 'frubber' and has about 30 facial 'muscles', each moved by a tiny servo motor connected to the muscle by a string.

All photos copyright Erik Jepsen. Reused with permission.