The Article
The article I chose to read was about a bot called Nino. Nino is a 4' 9" tall robot and weighs 150 lbs. It comes equip with 112 sensors to monitor things like temperature, energy, and the robot's motors. Nino also has 52 degrees of freedom, which includes individual finger joints. The bot's head has an led array with which it can display simple emoticon-style expressions. Nino is also capable of walking up ramps and stairs. The robot was built by National Taiwan University's Robotics Laboratory. The purpose of building Nino was to construct a robot able to demonstrate sign language. While Nino has been show to be able to accomplish this goal, with preprogramed signs, it cannot respond to anything that is signed to it due to a lack of image processing software able to accurately interpret sign language.
Future Implications
It is hoped that in the future Nino will be able to hold a conversation only in sign language. Possible applications of a bot like this would be use as an interpreter for those unable to speak or otherwise unable to communicate orally..