1 . At Aizo Chuo Hospital in Japan, employees greet newcomers, guide patients to and from the surgery area, and print out maps of the hospital for confused visitors. They don’t take lunch breaks or even get paid. Why? They’re robots!
Robots have long worked in factories, helping to build cars and electronic appliances. But today’s robots don’t just do the jobs of people－they actually look and act a lot like people.
Kansei, a robot from Japan, has a plastic face covering 19 movable parts. The robot can make 36 facial expressions in response to different words. Kansei shakes in fear at the word “war” and smiles when it hears the word “dinner”.
Researchers in Europe are going even further with iCub, a “baby” robot. They are teaching it to speak and hold conversations.
The ability to interact is crucial for robots that will one day work closely with humans, says robotics professor ChrisAtkeson. “This will require robots to understand what you say and how you are feeling and respond with appropriate emotions,” he told WR News.
Japanese scientist Minoru Asada agrees. He is building a robot called CB2 that acts like a real baby. “Right now, it only goes, ̒Ah, ah. ̓ But as we develop its learning function, it will start saying more complex sentences and moving on its own,” Asada says. “Next-generation robots need to be able to learn and develop by themselves.”
Intelligent robot will become more important in the future, as populations age and the number of human workers declines in many countries. “We’re going to have many more old people and not enough young people to care for them,” says robot researcher Matthew Mason. “Technology can help the old people live at home longer, instead of going to nursing homes.”
1. According to the passage, what jobs have robots already performed?| A．Giving advice, answering customer questions and planning events. |
| B．Producing factory goods, building cars and greeting customers. |
| C．Greeting customers, producing factory goods and performing surgery. |
| D．Building cars, driving passengers and providing directions. |
| A．To explain how a robot works. |
| B．To define what a robot is. |
| C．To describe the functions of modern robots. |
| D．To predict the future uses of robots. |
| A．Use languages to warn nearby humans. |
| B．Back up its memory files. |
| C．Activate an automatic fire alarm. |
| D．Produce a worried look on his face. |
| A．the ability to learn independently |
| B．the ability to understand human commands |
| C．the capacity to interact with humans |
| D．the willingness to work together |
