A team of researchers and computer engineering scientists from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) have developed a cloud-based artificial intelligent machine, called "Zara the Supergirl", which is capable of interacting with humans by recognizing their emotions.

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The artificial intelligence technology, which was unveiled at the World Economic Forum in China in 2015, was developed as part of the scientific efforts to create sophisticated machines that will be able to communicate and converse naturally with humans.

Professor Pascale Fung of HKUST said that robots capable of interacting with humans need to have their own individual personalities for proper communication to take place.

Zara the Supergirl can recognize human emotions by reading facial expressions and voice tone, according to Nikkei Asia. She can initiate conversations with people by asking certain questions.

According to Fung, Zara has the ability to converse in Chinese and English, and will soon be able to converse in French as well. Today, she exists only in the cloud, however, the team is planning to give her a material body sometime within two years.

In addition to robots, major tech companies such as Google Inc., Facebook Inc. and Baidu, Inc. have turned towards artificial intelligence (AI) in order to improve their own technologies.

In 2014, Google announced its partnership with leading experts from the University of Oxford in England to expand its research in the areas of voice and visual recognition. In the same year, Baidu announced it is using deep learning algorithm, which is a subfield of AI, in order to improve its search engine technology.

TagsZara the Supergirl Artificial Intelligence HKUST China March 2016, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), Artificial Intelligence Robots