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An emotional robot

Can a robot show emotions? Blade can. It changes it's expression depending on what is going on around it.

Blade was created by Zabir, a student at Queen Mary, University of London. Just like a dog, it can't tell what is being said. It can tell if it's hearing a soft sound or a sharp sound. Based on that it changes it's expression. It looks unhappy when it hears a harsh sound, and chears up when the sounds are nicer. It can also look surprised too if there is a sudden sound. Watch it in action below.

Brain based on biology

How does it do it? Well it has a brain very much like ours.

Scientists who study biology have learnt a lot about how our brains work. Computer Scientists use that knowledge to build robot brains that work the same way. Our brains are made up of billions of nerve cells called neurons. They are all connected to lots of other neurons. Everything you think and feel is just neurons sending messages to each other. That is how Blade works. It has what is called a 'neural network' brain. It's brain is made of artificial neurons constantly sending messages to each other.

Learn like a dog

Zabir had to teach the robot how to behave. He did this the way you would train a dog. He spent lots of time talking to it both softly and sharply. Each time he rewarded or punished it depending on whether it did the right thing. Gradually the artificial brain fine-tuned itself until it got it right.

At the end of the year, Blade was taken apart to make way for a new robot. It was horrible to do though as having spent so much time talking to it and watching it react, it seemed like it was much more than just a bunch of lego bricks.