Meet Erica, an Intelligent Android

Humanity has been trying to create self-operating machines for a very long time.

Portrait of Tammy Strobel
Humanity has been trying to create self-operating machines for a very long time.
My Reading Room
My Reading Room
Erica answers the audience’s questions in Japanese. She’s a little stiff, and she can’t walk on her own. You notice her face, which is beautiful. No wonder, as it’s based on an average design of features from 30 beautiful women.
Erica, an intelligent android, is a collaborative project between Osaka and Kyoto universities, and the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International. She was unveiled last year, and is one of the most advanced androids in the world today, with the ability to make small talk and answer basic questions. You might think that androids, robots built to look and act human, are a product of the last century. But mankind has been trying to create automated machines for far longer than that.
There are plenty of myths about automata, selfoperating machines, in the ancient world; the Greek god Hephaestus created talking mechanical servants out of gold, the Jews animated clay golems by writing holy words on their foreheads, and a  robot made of leather and wood apparently entertained King Mu’s court in old China.
None of these fables can be proven, but there are pieces of reality that have managed to survive the decay of time.

"YOU NOTICE HER FACE, WHICH IS BEAUTIFUL.”