~~: Welcome to Project Aiko

Aiko history

In the past year, many people have been repeatedly asked why Aiko was built by Le Trung. It actually starts back in the 70s during his childhood where he spent a lot of time watching Japanese anime which often featured robot themes. Then, he decided to keep in his mind that he’ll built a robot, same as inside the cartoon, someday.

Throughout his life, he has built many prototypes and smaller robots. However, his greatest motivation came after watching “Chobits.” After that, he decided to try his skills to create a gynoid, which is mean an android that look exactly like a human female.

It was May 17, 1997 is where he started to built Aiko brain system, which the function is to have an expression, and can sense same as human. But it’s a system that gave Aiko a heart and emotion. Finally, on August 15, 2007, his research has come to a success, where he finish his first gynoid creation that have a sensor and expression, and Aiko body has been created as the second step to built Aiko which only took 1.5 months to finish.

Aiko made her debut at Jacob Javits Center, US on 26 September 2008. She was there for 3 days and finally got attractionn rom the whole world since then. Now, Le Trung is working on another vision system for Aiko and make a facial expression for her.

AIKO PROFILE

Name : Aiko (which means “beloved one”)

Height 152cm Bust: 82cm Waist: 57cm Hip: 84cm

Built in Canada by Le Trung

Her internal system is using the AI system and Brain Software

Her internal system was started been built on May 1997

Her body parts was only started to been built on August 2007, and took 1.5 months only to finish

Her first public appearance was on September 2008, at Jacob Javits Center, US

Her whole body was made from silicone

AIKO TECHNOLOGY SYSTEM

Le Trung is designing an artificial intelligence system which uses both dynamic software and hardware linked together to mimic part of human behaviour. By using Bio Robot Artificial Intelligence Neural System (aka B.R.A.I.N.S) software together with a custom designed Humanoid (aka Aiko), he is hoping that he can create an android as close to a human as much as possible.

Aiko has the ability to talk and interact with human (13,000+ sentences). Aiko can read books, newspapers (print font size at least 12 pts). She has the ability to solve math problems displayed to her visually. Aiko has the ability to see color patterns on the clothes you are wearing. Aiko in theory has the ability to bring you your orange juice or coffee. In other words, Aiko can distinguish between the different drinks. She can also recognize simple foods such as Hot Dogs, Hamburgers, Sandwiches and even toys. Aiko has the ability to recognize the faces of family members, or Aiko can be programmed to activate defense mode when it does not recognize the person’s face in the house such as in the case of an intruder. When you are about to go outside, Aiko can tell you to bring an umbrella if it is going to rain or wear warmer clothes if it is windy.

ARTIFICIAL INTELIGENCE SYSTEM

What is AI (Artificial Intelligence)? Many people think that AI is the ability of a mechanical object, such as a robot, to converse with a human being. I think this definition is incomplete. The meaning of AI should include the capacity for the robot to have senses similar to humans. AI should include the ability of speech, hearing, conversation, vision, object recognition along with interaction with objects and surroundings such as a sense of danger or caution in unfamiliar areas.

Currently, Aiko can have simple conversations with another human being. When I say simple, she can converse at a level similar to a 5 years old. Aiko already has facial recognition capabilities and can distinguish different human expressions. Aiko can identify human body movements and trace motion to detect what we are doing. Aiko can sense danger and be mindful of her surroundings (People hurting her). Aiko can scan her surroundings and can recognize what object(s) is/are most important such as going to a bank and understanding that the points of interest are the money, safe boxes etc.

For instance, if you put a chair in front of Aiko, her AI can recognize that the chair is the foreground and decide to disregard any information from the background. If a person happens to stand beside the chair, Aiko’s AI will change focus to make the person the point of interest. The chair will be treated like the background and ignored. If two people stand beside the chair, Aiko will be aware of the second person, but remain focused on the first person. If the second person engages in a conversation with Aiko, then the AI is intuitive enough to focus primarily on the speaking person.

Software B.R.A.I.N.S

The software is programmed in C, C# and Basic, and is constantly updated. BRAINS software controls speech, reading, math, vision, colors, hearing, automation and sensors. It controls reading temperatures to face and 3-D object recognition. In other words, it is literally the brain and heart of Aiko. In additional to controlling Aiko’s functions,the software can control Robot kits such as Kondo KHR2 through voice activation, automation and basic recognition. The BRAINS software is designed to interact with the surrounding environment, process it, and record the information into its internal memory. Once the internal memory is at full capacity, the information can be transferred into the server data base. The information can be shared for current and future robots. There are few things that no matter what I do, the software can not give Aiko an Emotion or a Soul. The BRAINS software is not even close to human AI,but as with any journey, one step at a time.

The Bio Robot Artificial Intelligence Neural System (BRAINS) is copyrighted by Trung Le under Canadian Intellecutal Property Office.

As of today the only Company ever to use the BRAINS software are:

BRAINS Full Version:
Aiko

Intel Robot Arti. (Intel Arti - Kumotek)
Atom (Kumotek Interactive Robot for Nano TX 2008)