Nadine was created at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore, by a team led by Professor Nadia Thalmann, at the Institute of Media Innovation.

She will start work this Saturday as a receptionist at NTU and some of her capabilities include:

• Having a distinct personality.
• Making eye contact.
• Recognizing people she meets and recalling previous conversations.
• Expressing moods and emotions.
• Grasping things quickly and acting as per the needs of the situation.
• Working for extended hours efficiently.

As a receptionist, “she can say goodbye and good morning, and keep a list of what to do. She will take documents we hand to her, read them and, being a computer, keep it filed. She will do it perfectly, and better than a standard receptionist,” said Nadia.

While the technology still has a lot of scope for improvement and development, the goal is for robots such as Nadine, to help meet manpower requirements in areas like admin and healthcare.

Here’s a video of Nadine interacting with Professor Thalmann.