Hanson Robotics

Full Name

Hanson Robotics Limited

About

Hanson Robotics Limited is a Hong Kong-based AI and robotics company dedicated to creating socially intelligent machines that enrich the quality of life. It was founded in 2007 by the robotics designer David Hanson, Ph.D., originally in Dallas, Texas, and relocated to Hong Kong in 2013 to sit inside Asia's innovation ecosystem; its headquarters are in Tsuen Wan, Hong Kong. Hanson began developing humanoid robotics technology in 2003 and created the Philip K. Dick Android in 2005, described by the company as the world's first conversational android. The company's differentiators are materials science and cognitive architecture: Frubber™, its patented porous elastomer that mimics the texture, flexibility and appearance of human skin so robots can cross the uncanny valley with nuanced facial expression; and WhOA, the Whole Organism Architecture, a bio-inspired framework that integrates perception, reasoning and motor control into one cognitive system and combines symbolic reasoning with neural networks. Its robot family includes Sophia, the company's most advanced human-like robot, along with Little Sophia, Han, Professor Einstein, BINA48, Albert HUBO, Jules, Joey Chaos, Eva, Diego-San, Zeno and the Philip K. Dick Android. Hanson robots have been deployed at Cambridge University, the Smithsonian, the US CDC, MIRALab Geneva and UC San Diego, with healthcare work at Vrije University, StellaMaris Hospital and the University of Pisa; Sophia has interviewed Chancellor Angela Merkel and performed a duet with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show. The company's current commercial offer is the Sophia Robot™ Utility platform, sold as an early product for research and development, retail, science education, events and B2B service. Frubber™, Sophia™, Sophia Robot™ and Sophia the Robot™ are the company's trademarks.

Robot Products

Zeno

Released 2013

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Sophia

Released 2016

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Development Timeline