Zeno Life-Like Robot Debuts at NextFest

Call it creepy or call it incredible, but the latest robot from Hanson Robotics has eyes that move, lips that open, and will recognize you from the last time you talked to him.

Honda’s Asimo humanoid robot may be in for some competition. Hanson Robotics used WIRED magazine’s NextFest expo to introduce a new robot named Zeno on Thursday, a 17-inch tall tike who can navigate, make facial expressions, recognize speech and more.

Zeno uses artificial intelligence developed by Massive Software, the company that developed simulated AI-driven characters for the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Happy Feet and Ratatouille. The robot develops a 3D “mental image” of his surroundings and uses Massive’s code to determine how to control physical action. A body with 28 individual servos allows Zeno to lie down, stand up, gesture, open and close his mouth and eyes, and more.

Hanson also built Zeno with a speech recognition engine and conversational AI. These capabilities, together with his vision, allow Zeno to remember speech and faces and interact accordingly.

The ultimate goal with Zeno is to produce a robot for the mass market. “The technology incorporated in Zeno has a huge potential for the consumer home entertainment market,” said David Hanson, founder of Hanson Robotics, in a statement. “Zeno’s pre-defined movements and actions have unlimited permutations and he will get smarter and more aware over time. The goal is to bring it to market as a children’s toy, able to tutor, express and teach a variety of different subjects.”