Having a Hard Day at Work? Mira Robot can Make you Smile!
The Advent of Friendly Robots
Technological advances have made humans build robots that can perform various daunting tasks. However, there is an impending need to understand how robots would socially interact with humans in an unstructured, real-world environment. This has led to the development of friendly and cute robots that use advanced technologies like emotional intelligence to communicate with humans and build a relationship of trust and care.
Introducing Mira Robot
Now here is a robot who loves to play the Peek-a-boo! The American computer animation studio Pixar, famous for its innovative and ground-breaking films, has revolutionized the animated films industry. Best known for producing feature films like the Toy Story series, Finding Nemo, Ratatouille, Up and the very recent Inside Out, Pixar has always managed to entertain people of all age groups.
To add to their cuteness quotient, Pixar has designed an endearing little desk robot called Mira that uses facial technology to interact with humans. Mira was designed to explore the association between humans and robots. Using a combination of human robot interactivity and emotional intelligence, Mira is sure to make you smile.
The Brain Behind Mira
These days, there are plenty of cute and helpful robots, designed to brighten people’s moods. Mira was designed for the very same reason by Pixar’s technical director Alonso Martinez. She responds to humans in an adorable way, just like a real baby. Martinez has kept the structure very simple; Mira robot looks like a big white egg with 2 eyes and a base that changes colours using facial recognition technology.
Enchanting Features
In an age where robots are seen as high-tech devices that can perform challenging tasks, Mira is an adorable exception. The simple Mira robot currently uses facial tracking to interact with humans and enjoys playing peek-a-boo. When she detects someone is looking at her, she turns green in colour and follows his gaze as he moves around. As soon as the human hides, she gets sad but when he reappears in front of her, she changes multiple colours and wiggles.
The maker also intends to develop Mira further along with his colleagues Aaron Nathan and Vijay Sundaram for better simulated emotions and to enhance human interaction on varied levels, making the interactions feel even more genuine.
It is now a desk companion that is sure to make you smile with its antics. With the project, the maker is keen to explore human robot interactivity and the EQ. Playing the game “peek-a-boo” is second nature to the robot. As the robot acquires better features, the emotions are bound to get richer so the interactions will have more meaning.
Future Prospects
As of today, Mira robot can only detect when a human is looking at her using facial technology. However, Martinez is working to expand Mira’s human interaction capabilities. Martinez intends to develop her further to help enhance her emotions and make her interactions with humans more genuine. As her understanding of the world and people’s emotions get better, she will be able to interact with humans in a more meaningful manner. Sadly though, there is no information on when this cute little robot will be made available to the public.
Let’s Wrap Up!
In this day and age of hectic lifestyles, a robot that makes us smile is very welcome. And as Martinez rightly said “Mira is a desk companion that makes your life better, one smile at a time”, Mira robot is sure to make our day! Seeing it every day, excitedly bouncing away like a real baby is an achievement in itself from the makers. Not many robots connect with humans like that, do they?
Dhruvil is a Writer & Marketeer for Nimblechapps, joined in December 2014, based out of Sydney, Australia. He has worked briefly as a Branding and Digital Marketing Manager before moving to Australia. At Nimblechapps, he worked on Social Media Marketing, Branding, Email Marketing and Blogging. Dhruvil studies Business at University of Western Sydney, and also handles Operations for the company in Australia.