Varanasi: Away from the birthplace in Hong Kong, Sophia, a social humanoid robot, will celebrate her fourth birthday in Kashi, the land of Lord Shiva, on Friday (February 14, 2020).
On her birthday this most advanced human-like robot, which is a combination of science, engineering and artistry, she will interact with the budding technocrats of IIT (BHU) on the inaugural day of the 81st edition of their annual techno-management fest -Technex, which being the oldest such fest of Asia will witnesses the participation of over 200,00 students from 400 colleges across the country.
Sophia developed by Hong Kong based company Hanson Robotics was activated on February 14, 2016, and made her first public appearance in mid-March 2016 in Austin, Texas, United States. In October 2017, Sophia became a Saudi Arabian citizen, the first robot to receive citizenship of any country. In November 2017, Sophia was named the United Nations Development Programme’s first ever Innovation Champion, and is the first non-human to be given any United Nation title.
She is able to display more than 60 facial expressions. According to the manufacturer, Sophia uses artificial intelligence, visual data processing and facial recognition. Sophia also imitates human gestures and facial expressions and is able to answer certain questions.
It is her second visit to India. Earlier, she had taken part in the cultural TechFest of IIT-Bombay on December 30, 2017.
