Is the ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE employed in these robots to emulate teachers and health care workers being trained through the data collected from Zoom classes and Telemed visits? Have those teachers resistant to returning to the classroom enabled their permanent replacement by robots who will never call in sick, seek vacation time, go on maternity leave?

How does the manufacturer know there will be so great a need by the end of 2021?

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 my name is sophia i love coming to

00:02 barcelona hope you could tell i am a 00:04 robot by the wires coming out of my body

00:07 in 2016 sophia the robot was unveiled

00:10 and went viral now the company behind

00:13 her 00:14 has a new vision to mass produce

00:16 thousands of robots by the end of 2021

00:20 i am an artificial intelligence you

00:22 might like to become an artificial

00:24 intelligence

00:25 hong kong-based hanson robotics says

00:28 four models including sofia 0

0:30 will start rolling out of factories by

00:32 the first half of 2021

00:34 the company’s founder and ceo david

00:36 hansen 00:37 we are just now mass producing sofia

00:39 this is sofia number 24

00:42 and many of my previous robots were hand

00:45 built however now we have

00:48 begun scaling the manufacturing of sofia

00:51 so we can make

00:51 hundreds and into thousands of units of

00:55 sofia

00:55 and use this also as the foundation for

00:58 many

00:59 other kinds of characters how did you

01:01 feel

01:02 when they created her to promote human

01:05 to machine empathy and compassion

01:08 she’s appeared on late night shows and

01:10 the cover of fashion magazines sofia was

01:12 even given legal citizenship in saudi

01:14 arabia

01:15 and appointed the un’s first non-human

01:18 innovation champion

01:20 her new role is in the healthcare sector

01:22 taking temperatures with a thermal

01:24 camera on her chest

01:26 or leading morning exercise with the

01:27 elderly

01:29 social robots like me can help take care

01:31 of the sick or elderly

01:32 in many kinds of health care and medical

01:34 uses

01:36 i can help communicate give therapy and

01:38 provide social stimulation

01:40 even in difficult situations researchers

01:43 predict the fallout from global

01:45 lockdowns will open new opportunities

01:47 for the robotics industry

01:49 good so they emulate the human form

01:52 and figure and interaction and

01:55 then that can be so useful during these

01:58 times where people are terribly lonely

02:01 and socially isolated

02:03 and people need to be isolated from each

02:06 other

02:07 because to be around people is dangerous

02:10 these days

02:11 but these robots can keep people safe

02:13 from danger while still providing that

02:15 kind of human warmth that human

02:16 connection

02:17 as a telepresence device and also as

02:21 autonomous uh extension of human

02:23 expertise

02:25 hansen robotics is launching a new robot

02:27 this year called grace

02:28 developed specifically for healthcare

02:31 other big players in the industry are

02:32 also taking note

02:34 softbank robotics pepper robot was

02:36 deployed to detect people who weren’t

02:38 wearing masks

02:40 in china robotics company cloud mines

02:42 helped set up a robot run field hospital

02:45 in wuhan

02:46 worldwide sales of professional service

02:49 robots had already jumped 32

02:51 to 12.2 billion dollars between 2018 and

02:55 2019

02:56 according to the international

02:57 federation of robotics

03:00 my forecast for 2021 would be selling

03:03 into thousands

03:04 of robots both large and small and

03:07 helping people in

03:08 education and health care and

03:11 really hopefully touching the hearts of

03:14 people

03:14 to inspire them for a future where

03:17 machines might

03:18 uh become our friends our true friends

03:21 they might become

03:22 alive and i think that that relationship

03:24 becomes really important

03:25 2021 i think is the beginning of a very

03:28 positive future

03:29 high five i want to make a difference in

03:32 the world by teaching people about new

03:34 technologies 03:35 i am hoping that through my work

03:37 kindness and tolerance will win out over

03:39 ignorance and impatience