A special new humanoid robot, named Jia Jia, made its debut at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), in the city of Hefei, Anhui province, on April 15, and surprised some people by its lovely appearance, and its ability to engage in basic human conversation and respond with appropriate facial expressions, with lips and body in synch. “Her” other “features” include a wide-ranging navigation and positioning system and cloud-computing services .

Jia Jia was the product of three years of work by the USTC team and a new member to the university’s robot family following its previous release of "Kejia", with the latest developments focusing on “unique experiences” in human-machine interaction that are robot-specific, according to Chen Xiaoping, head of the research team.

In addition to conventional functions, the researchers had raised up questions, Chen went on to explain, about the definition of a robot’s personality and the coordination between a robot’s appearance, personality and functions, and came up with some answers. They gave a preliminary definition of the components of a robot’s personality, namely kindness, diligence and smartness.

The team has finished the preliminary testing of Jia Jia. Feedbacks from users participating in the tests have concluded that Jia Jia’s appearance and functions well embodied the team’s definition about her personality and she gained extensive endorsements from the users.

Jia Jia had served as a hostess at the 1st Global Chinese Robot Spring Festival Gala this year and took part in a chess competition.

SOURCE: CHINA SCIENCE DAILY