The humanoid robot wishes to stay in smart cities
Fresh from winning the Smart Building Award in the 5th International Data Corporation (IDC) Smart City Asia Pacific Awards, Forest City welcomed Sophia, the social humanoid robot.
Sophia recently dazzled Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman when the woman-like robot was at the Beyond Paradigm Summit in Kuala Lumpur on 17th July 2019.
In the conversation with Forest City, Sophia expressed her wish to stay in smart cities where technology plays a role in making residents’ lives safer and more convenient.
Sophia said Forest City could use virtual agents or robots to help with customer service, care for the sick and elderly and conduct customised lessons for students.
The robot, developed by Hong Kong-based Hanson Robotics in 2016, also enquired about Country Garden Group Founder and Chairman Yang Guoqiang, who is keen to invest in agriculture and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
“I would love to talk to him (Yang) about how AI robots and virtual agents like me can make the city smarter and more fun,” said Sophia.
Sophia also learnt that Forest City was three years old, just like the humanoid and that to date 2.64 kilometres of land has been reclaimed, with a built-up area of 1.69 million square metres and another 2.04 million sq m under construction.
“So, you all are literally putting Forest City on the map!” said Sophia.
In the last three years, Sophia has travelled to over 60 countries and is a United Nations Innovation Champion.
Sophia praised Forest City for its green features, its facial recognition system for security reasons, and having a diversified mix of international homeowners from Malaysia, Singapore, China, India, Korea, Japan and Europe.
Forest City also told Sophia that there is a large patch of seagrass near its shores, with seahorses, starfish and other marine life.
Forest City and Hanson are exploring opportunities for collaboration in the future. Forest City is aiming to build up the industry component as part of its industry integration Blueprint 2020, and will also focus on robotics and AI, now that the bulk of its residential properties on the first island of the mega development have been fully taken up.
