Researchers Create Autonomous Robot That Mimics Human Expressions

The project began several years ago in Lipson's lab when undergraduate student Zanwar Faraj led a team of students to build the robot's physical "machinery." EVA was first constructed as a disembodied bust, and now the robot can express six basic emotions of anger, disgust, fear, joy, sadness, and surprise. EVA can also express other nuanced emotions by relying on artificial "muscles," which are in the form of cables and motors. These artificial muscles pull on specific points on EVA's face, which enables the robot to mimic the movements of more than 42 tiny muscles that are attached to the skin and bones of human faces.