She is young, beautiful, intelligent and soft-spoken. She can easily recognise faces and look you in the eye. Her face can show 60 different expressions, more than what a Bharatanatyam dancer can display in her abhinaya (expressing emotions). She is ‘Sophia’, a sweet and smart humanoid, who greeted visitors at an IT exhibition in Hyderabad recently.

   Her creator, David Hanson, who designed her two years ago marvels at her maturity in responding to queries. He is a happy man today as Saudi Arabia has given Sophia its citizenship, the world’s first to get such a legal status!

    Sophia marks a turning point in the rise of robots. The shaky start of humanoids is over, thanks to a massive increase in computing power, now available. Today a robot can step in as a challenging dance partner and even perform a slap-stick comedy. It can walk on four limbs or slither like a snake. It can soon touch and....