Meet "DIEGO-SAN", developed by David Hanson (of Hanson Robotics) for the Machine Perception Lab at the University of California San Diego Institute for Neural Computation. With a face by David Hanson and Hanson Robotics, which mounts on a robotic body (not yet functional), this robotic baby boy was built with funding from the National Science Foundation and serves cognitive A.I. and human-robot interaction research.
With high definition cameras in the eyes, Diego San sees people, gestures, expressions, and uses A.I. modeled on human babies, to learn from people, the way that a baby hypothetically would. This is a major milestone in "emotionally relevant robotics"--taking the next step from A.I. that learns human movements to A.I. that learns human emotions.
Here's a link to a TED video in which David Hanson discusses the future of emotionally relevant robotics.
