Now a research team from Kyoto University, Osaka University, and the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute, or ATR, have significantly upgraded the interaction system for conversational android ERICA, giving her even greater dialog skills. ERICA is an android created by Hiroshi Ishiguro of Osaka University and ATR, specifically designed for natural conversation through incorporation of human-like facial expressions and gestures. The research team demonstrated the updates during a symposium at the National Museum of Emerging Science in Tokyo. "When we talk to one another, it's never a simple back and forward progression of information," states Tatsuya Kawahara of Kyoto University's Graduate School of Informatics, and an expert in speech and audio processing. We express agreement by nodding or saying'uh-huh' to maintain the momentum of conversation.

At a mere 23 years old, Japan's latest news anchor would make her parents proud -- if she had any. Erica, a lifelike android designed to look like a 23-year-old woman, may soon become a TV news anchor in Japan, the Wall Street Journal reported. According to Hiroshi Ishiguro, director of the Intelligent Robotics Laboratory at Osaka Universityand Erica's creator, the android will replace a human news anchor on the airwaves as soon as April, the Daily Mail said. Erica the android may be well suited for this desk job. For starters, she can capably recite scripted writing and sit in a chair, making her about as qualified for television as most humans.