Russian startup reveals SHOCKINGLY LIFELIKE android in pitch to replace customer service representatives
- Robo-C is intended for use in customer service and home care jobs
- The android has 16 moving parts in its face and can create 600 expressions
- Russian startup Promobot sell Robo-C for $20,000 to $50,000
A Russian startup has created a new line of androids it hopes to sell to businesses with heavy customer service needs, like airports, banks, and museums.
Built by Promobot, a Russian tech company operating out of a Warminister, Pennsylvania, Robo-C is the ‘world’s first humanoid android, which not only simulates the appearance of a person, but also is able to integrate into business processes.’
Robo-C was designed to be able to copy human facial expressions and can move its eyes, eyebrows, lips and other facial muscles, via 16 moving parts, and can adopt 600 different facial expressions.
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Robo-C (pictured above) has an AI equipped with 100,000 speech modules to make it useful in customer service scenarios
The robot can also speak directly to users and comes with an AI containing 100,000 speech modules, according to a report from CNBC.
The robot costs between $20,000 and $50,000 depending on the user customization choices.
Robo-C is targeted for a number of different commercial uses, including work as a home companion.
Promobot has four current Robo-C orders, one to work scanning passports at a government services center.
Another will be sent to a robot exhibition, and two others are being made for a Middle-eastern family to resemble the mother and father.
For Promobot co-founder Oleg Kivokurtzev, creating meaningful personalities for the androids is crucial.
‘The key moment in development [of Robo-C] is the digitization of personality and the creation of an individual appearance,’ he told CNBC. ‘As a result, digital immortality, which we can offer our customers.’
One of Promobot’s competitors, ANA Holding’s Avatar division, sees the burgeoning field of android development as something that could change the entire economy.
‘What we’re creating is an Uber platform for robots,’ ANA’s Akira Fukabori told CNBC.
‘They’re not made for a specific use—that’s how they’re different. We are developing robots as infrastructure. People can just avatar in to the robot they want to use.’
Robo-C (pictured above) can do more than 600 facial expressions, thanks to 16 moving parts in its face
‘Teachers can avatar in to classrooms and doctors can avatar in to hospitals, or you can use one to go shopping. You decide what to do, and these are just the tools to let you do that.’
