Don’t call her a doll. Tong Tong it is for all intents and purposes a humanoid little girl. Through artificial intelligence will be able to interact with humans, but also experience instincts and emotions, such as boredom or tiredness. Dressed in pink pants and a white t-shirt, Tong Tong was developed by Beijing institute for general artificial intelligence (BigaI) and has the mental and value system of a 3 or 4 year old girl, with the possibility of growing up and making the lessons of experience her own. She is the first prototype of an artificial child.
The potential applications of Tong Tong
The team of researchers at Beijing, who worked on this project, comes from several disciplines, including engineering, psychology and computer science. The goal was to create a robot capable of interacting naturally with humans, opening the doors to a wide range of applications, such as:
home care for the elderly;
company to those who do not have children, categories that represent a great social challenge for China in a demographic crisis; assistance for people with disability, providing emotional and practical support in daily activities; in the education sector it could be used as virtual tutor, helping children develop key skills such as reading and mathematics; in the commercial sector, it could be used as a virtual assistant for customer serviceimproving the user experience through personalized and intuitive interactions.
He has a physiognomy and technical movements similar to a human being
The structure of the humanoid was designed to guarantee a certain resemblance to the human form, with proportionate limbs and arealistic facial expression. But not only that: because the humanoid baby is equipped with a series of technical characteristics that make her unique in her genre. Her body was designed with flexible materials and soft, allowing smooth and natural movements that resemble those of a human being.
Growth: Improve learning through experience
But what makes Tong Tong truly extraordinary is its advanced artificial intelligence. Thanks to sophisticated algorithms, the humanoid little girl is able to learn continuously from interactions with humansimproving his skills communication e comprehension of the context. This allows it to adapt to a wide range of situations and provide increasingly accurate and personalized responses.
Develop a’authentic and engaging interaction
One of the most impressive aspects of Tong Tong is its ability to interact naturally with people. Thanks to motion detection sensors and built-in microphoneshe’s able to perceive the emotions and intentions of individuals with whom he comes into contact, regulating his behavior and responses accordingly. This creates an authentic and engaging interaction experience, which can be especially valuable in contexts such as healthcare and education.
Risks: replacement of human relationships with artificial ones
However, the advent of humanoid robots like Tong Tong also raises a number of important ethical and social considerations. On the one hand, there is the risk of dependence and replacement of human relationships with artificial ones, with possible ones consequences on mental health and social well-being. On the other hand, there is the question of privacy and data securitywith the need to ensure that personal information collected by robots is handled securely and responsibly.