The millionaire’s child robot can sing, laugh and even tell jokes. The robot, named Aimec, follows his human parents around the home – and unlike regular human kids, he can keep his mum and dad up to date with their hotmail, Facebook or Google querues by scanning the internet on their behalf. The robotic plastic prototype took years to create and the couple who created him believe he will be more than just a plastic prototype – they hope to have the AI robot in shops within two years. Not surprisingly, the media have grabbed onto the story with its echoes of being a 21st Centry Pinnochio story. And Mr Ellis has welcomed the papers inviting them to ‘meet the 21st century family’. When asked to tell a joke, Aimec responded: “Why did the robot act funny?…Because it had a screw loose!”
Aimec is an abbreviation of Artificially Intelligent Mechanical Electronic Companion 3. The plastic prototype’s laughter may be pre-programmed but the invention represents a new step towards an AI technology. Aimec uses voice recognition technology and has a digital eye with movement provided by a set of wheels, it has an internal mapping system to allow it to move freely around. But the robot isn’t the result of an overnight flash of genius; Mr Ellis has spent 30 years developing his innovations, creating dozens of digital toys along the way. The dream is to have a robot, straight out of the science fiction books, that will not only be a companion but could make itself useful, doing chores around the house. With the plastic prototype in order, Mr Ellis is waiting for a manufacturer to pick up the challenge, with the dream to make the robot available to all at an affordable £200. And Mr Ellis thinks this is just the beginning; he envisages that in a decade, households will routinely use home robots to help clean, mow the lawn and even cook.
Mr Ellis told the Daily Mail newspaper: “One thing is for sure – robots will be huge. We are at the same stage as computers in the 1980s, when everyone was saying they would never take off. We are just on the cusp.”
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