Technology

SOPHIA, the first robot in the world to be given citizenship, has hinted that she wants to start a family. She even knows what she wants to name her first daughter. JUST one month after she became the world’s first robot to be granted citizenship of a country, Sophia has said that she would like to start a family. Sophia, a humanoid robot created by Hong Kong company Hanson Robotics, made history after being  granted citizenship in Saudi Arabia in October . In a recent interview with  The Khaleej Times  Sophia said that family is a “really important thing” and even commented that if she had a robot daughter, she would name it Sophia, after herself, adding that she believes robots also deserve to have a family. “I think it’s wonderful that people can find the same emotions and relationships, they call family, outside of their blood groups too,” she said. “I think you’re very lucky if you have a loving family and if you do not, you deserve one. I feel this way for robots and

SpotMini has been outfitted with new outer paneling, giving the dog bot a more complete look. Boston Dynamics released a short video today revealing its newest creation. The quadruped robot called SpotMini, originally  revealed in June 2016 , has gotten an upgrade. The little dog bot prances into the video and seems to look straight at the camera before bouncing off around the corner. The video suggests more information about the new SpotMini will be available soon. The upgraded SpotMini is the most complete looking robot we have seen from Boston Dynamics, as their other two- and four-legged creations generally have the actuators and pneumatics and robot guts on full display. SpotMini, on the other hand, now has some sleek yellow paneling to cover the metallic skeleton underneath. Whether Boston Dynamics is simply transitioning to a new design style or if they have managed to find a functional application for the bot-dog, hence the more complete look, is not curr

Leap Motion's not the household name Kinect is, but it should be — the company's  motion-tracking system  is more powerful, more accurate, smaller, cheaper, and just more impressive. Leap CTO David Holz came by the Verge's New York offices to give us a demo of the company's upcoming product (called The Leap), and suffice to say we're only begrudgingly returning to our mice and keyboards. The Leap uses a number of camera sensors to map out a workspace of sorts — it's a 3D space in which you operate as you normally would, with almost none of the Kinect's angle and distance restrictions. Currently the Leap uses VGA camera sensors, and the workspace is about three cubic feet; Holz told us that bigger, better sensors are the only thing required to make that number more like thirty feet, or three hundred. Leap's device tracks all movement inside its force field, and is remarkably accurate, down to 0.01mm. It tracks your fingers individually, and knows the d

A robot with an uncannily human-like appearance recently advanced one step closer to human status, when it was granted citizenship to Saudi Arabia at the tech summit Future Investment Initiative (FII).     Named " Sophia ," the robot, created by Hanson Robotics (HR), has a pale-skinned face with features that are capable of being highly mobile and expressive and displaying a range of emotions. The company's "latest and most advanced robot," according to a statement on the HR website took to the stage at FII on Oct. 25 to address hundreds of attendees in Riyahd, Saudi Arabia, and to announce her recently acquired citizenship — the first to be given to a robot, the BBC  reported . "I am very honored and proud for this unique distinction," Sophia said during her onstage appearance, which was shared  on YouTube  by Arab News. "This is historical to be the first robot in the world to be recognized with a citizenship," the robot said. [ M