Robot learns to use hand gestures including pointing by watching 52 hours of TED talk videos

Scientists have taught a robot how to use human-like hand gestures while speaking by feeding it footage of people giving presentations. The android learned to use a pointing gesture to portray'you' or'me', as well as a crooked arm action to suggest holding something. Building robots that gesticulate like humans will make interactions with them feel more natural, the Korean team behind the technology said. They built the robot around machine learning software that they showed 52 hours of TED talks - presentations given by expert speakers on various topics. Pictured is a Pepper robot that scientists taught to give human-like hand gestures during speech.