"AI-Powered Robotic Face Anticipates and Mirrors Human Smiles in Real Time"

Researchers at Columbia Engineering's Creative Machines Lab have developed Emo, a robot with a human-like head that can anticipate and replicate a person's smile before it occurs, using AI and 26 actuators to create a broad range of facial expressions. The robot has learned to make eye contact and predict forthcoming smiles about 840 milliseconds before they happen, aiming to improve human-robot interaction and build trust. The team is now working on integrating verbal communication into Emo and considering ethical implications of this technology.