Hanson Robotics Announces “Little Sophia,” New Educational STEM Companion For Kids 7 to 13

Worldwide Kickstarter Campaign Launches to Fund Production of Little Sophia The Robot

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA — Hanson Robotics Limited (www.hansonrobotics.com), creator of the world’s most human-like robots, announces their next innovation in consumer robots: Little Sophia. Little Sophia is a tutorial companion that teaches STEM, coding, and Artificial intelligence (AI), with a playful personality and unmatched characteristics of the renowned Sophia the Robot.

Designed for kids (especially girls) ages 7-13, Little Sophia robot comes to life as your AI friend. With the power of character and storytelling, Little Sophia helps kids learn new things in robotics, science, technology engineering, math, coding, and AI. Kids can learn to program Sophia with Blockly and Python; and with her lessons on computer vision, deep learning, and robotics, Little Sophia is the perfect smart, educational companion. Moreover, Little Sophia interfaces with Raspberry Pi, allowing kids to learn electronics and robotics, and to help her become as smart and capable as their imagination will allow.

Standing 14’’ tall, Little Sophia makes dozens of facial expressions (happy, sad, surprise, grouchy, delighted, etc), and she sees and talks with you like a friend. She walks, talks, sings, tells stories and jokes, and recognizes faces. She not only responds to commands, but actively engages in conversations and follows your movement. Also, with her app on your phone, you can use her Augmented Reality (AR) feature to take fun selfies. With her smart software, Little Sophia is also the ultimate AI home assistant. And being an open platform for development of ever-smarter emotional AI, the Little Sophia is truly your friend for life.

“We are thrilled to announce the launch of our Little Sophia Kickstarter campaign to the public, and to provide an opportunity to empower young girls around the world by introducing STEM, coding and AI in a fun and adventurous way,” states Jeanne Lim, CEO of Hanson Robotics Limited. “Little Sophia delivers a high-quality, entertaining and educational experience that motivates and inspires young students to spend time learning with her.”

David Hanson, Founder of Hanson Robotics Limited adds, “Our vision at Hanson Robotics is to bring robots to life. Our team of AI developers, engineers, roboticists, scientists, and artists have designed Little Sophia with the expressiveness and engaging personality that made Sophia the Robot so appealing, further extending the reach of our character-driven AI technology.”

Hanson Robotics is launching a worldwide Kickstarter campaign to help bring Little Sophia to the world. Research has shown that over 75% of girls who participate in hands-on STEM activities outside the classroom feel a sense of empowerment, if it is encouraged and nurtured early in a child’s educational life. Hanson Robotics believes that being introduced to STEM, coding and AI as a child in a fun and interactive way will help to empower all children, but especially girls. Little Sophia, unlike other educational toys in the market, was crafted by the same prestigious scientists, roboticists, engineers and AI developers who built Sophia the Robot.

Please visit Little Sophia on our website and our Kickstarter campaign for more information.

About Hanson Robotics Limited
Hanson Robotics is an AI and robotics company dedicated to creating living, intelligent machines that enrich people’s lives. The company develops renowned robot characters, such as Sophia, the world’s first robot citizen, which serve as AI platforms for scientific research, education, healthcare, sales and service, entertainment, and other research and service applications.  Hanson Robotics’ scientists, artists, roboticists, and engineers strive to bring robots to life as true friends who deeply understand and care for people, and collaborate with us in pursuit of ever-greater good for all. For more information please visit www.hansonrobotics.com.

Hanson Robotics Launches Kickstarter Campaign for Professor Einstein, an Expressive Robot that Teaches Science

A scientific legend brought back to life

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1240047277/professor-einstein-your-personal-genius

Hong Kong (PRWEB) January 23, 2017 — Today Hanson Robotics launched a Kickstarter campaign for an uncannily human-like robot version of Albert Einstein. The company aims to honor the iconic and imaginative scientist and bring fully expressive robots direct to consumers.

Professor Einstein is a 14.5” personal robot with the ability to walk, hold a natural conversation, learn your name, maintain eye contact, answer questions, entertain and teach science. He’s cloud and Wifi connected, allowing for dynamic interaction with a tablet and the corresponding Stein-O-Matic app to learn and play games.

The robot guides users through the world of science and beyond by presenting interactive lessons, eye-popping slideshows, daily mental kick starts, thought experiments, jokes, brain games and more. With new activities added to the Stein-O-Matic every day, Professor Einstein’s robust reward system allows users to earn IQ points, which can be used to unlock special items, bonus games and avatar upgrades.

The idea for Professor Einstein was born out of toy inventor Andy Rifkin’s lifelong fascination with all things Einstein, and the values he stood for. Hanson Robotics founder and CEO Dr. David Hanson approached Andy about teaming up to create a robot, which led to the formation of a unique shared vision. Rifkin was invited to join as Hanson Robotics’ Chief Technology Officer and the robot was developed under the Hanson Robotics umbrella.

“Professor Einstein has an adaptive learning ability, which means that if you don’t understand something, he will modify the way he presents the information,” said Rifkin. “He has infinite patience. He will keep trying different ways of explaining things until it “clicks” for you. Plus, because he teaches through jokes, metaphors, and games, he makes learning genuinely fun.”

“It was crucial for us that Professor Einstein would embody a sense of playfulness and wonder,” said Hanson. “He had to inspire imagination, be a great conversationalist, and make the gestures and facial expressions that the real Albert Einstein was known for.”

The Professor Einstein Kickstarter campaign runs from January 23 – February 27, 2017. Early bird pricing starts at $249 USD. For a full rundown of the pledge levels visit the Kickstarter page.