Sophia

About Sophia

Sophia is a social humanoid robot developed by Hanson Robotics, a Hong Kong-based robotics company, and first activated in 2016. Created to advance human-robot interaction, Sophia combines expressive facial animation, conversational AI, and computer vision to engage people through natural face-to-face communication. The robot has become one of the world’s most recognizable humanoids and has played a significant role in introducing the public to embodied artificial intelligence. Sophia’s defining feature is her highly expressive face, constructed from Hanson Robotics’ patented Frubber material and capable of producing more than 60 human-like facial expressions. The robot integrates articulated movements of the head, neck, arms, and hands with cameras, speech recognition, facial recognition, and natural language processing to support interactive conversations. Many public demonstrations combine autonomous capabilities with operator assistance, particularly during complex interviews and live events.