LAS VEGAS -- It's pretty impossible for humanoid robots to not look creepy, even if it's a familiar face, like Albert Einstein.
Hanson Robots unleashed its miniature robot dubbed Professor Einstein at CES this week. It's a 14.5" Wi-Fi-connected robot geared toward educating and entertaining its users with the likeness of the late genius Albert Einstein.
The robot pairs and interacts with an accompanying iOS and Android app called the Stein-O-Matic, used to teach science and play games, but can also act sort of like a Amazon Alexa or Google Home by reciting facts, solving problems and giving current weather updates.
Hanson Robots teamed up with toy inventor Andy Rifkin as its CTO to create the gaming app that has an IQ level which increases the more you interact with Professor Einstein.
While ditching the screen has been a tech trend widely recognized at the largest consumer electronics show in the world this year, Hanson Robots is putting a familiar face to its technology, though we have to admit it's still a little creepy, and that's OK. The robots produced by Hanson Robots are eerily lifelike, and produce a wide range of facial expressions and gestures -- Professor Einstein has over 50.
"Our end goal is to make AI very smart and to relate with people well, so by giving it a humanlike form it means that we can teach it more what it means to be human," CEO and founder David Hanson tells Mashable. "It can physically explore the world the way that a baby would, and it can socially explore; learn from people."
Hanson Robots breaks down its strategy into three areas: extremely humanlike robots, consumer robots (like Professor Einstein) and its cloud AI, called Mind Cloud, intended to learn from the interactions it has with humans.
For people who are a little creeped out by an AI that's learning in their home, Hanson ensured us that its AI is programmed to not learn about your personal life.
"Privacy is totally respected. It's not learning about all the people around the world, but what it is doing is learning from those interaction to generalize, said Hanson. "Your individual robot becomes your personal companion, but the Mind Cloud just sort of generally gets smarter from all those interactions. So we think this is a way to make AI become more generally intelligence, or what we call artificial general intelligence."
For now Professor Einstein is geared toward tech enthusiasts, kids and their parents, and obviously Einstein fans, but adding a face to a personal assistant or a companion such as this has endless applications. Creepy or not, these will probably become more and more present in our homes. Additionally, Mind Cloud technology hasn't hit any of its personal robots yet, so Professor Einstein won't be learning off your interaction this time around.
In order to create a miniature Einstein, Hanson Robots worked with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem to license his likeness.
"We're working very closely with them and their licensing partners to make sure that it really is well aligned and positively promoting the legacy of Einstein, who is more than just a brilliant scientist; just such a great thinker. He's a great emblem, I think, for what we would like for our artificial intelligence. We want it not just to be smart but to be human: warm and caring about making the world better place."
The battery life on Professor Einstein lasts about three to four hours, and comes with rechargeable batteries housed in his feet.
Hanson Robots plans to launch a Kickstarter campaign in late January, though you can sign up for its waitlist today.
Hanson Robots also showed off a much larger and lifelike Einstein at CES, and well, have a look.
UPDATE: Jan. 9, 2017, 11:51 a.m. EST Added clarification about Mind Cloud in Professor Einstein
Topics CES
