The robot Sophia will be mass-produced this year

Sophia has appeared in public all over the world, interviewed on many TV shows and even received the title of the United Nations.

Maybe Sophia has become the most famous robot in the world, but she won’t be ‘the only’ anymore. The company that invented Sophia, Hanson Robotics has announced plans to mass produce Sophia this year to help the world cope with the pandemic.

Robots are often created with the purpose of helping with manual tasks such as cooking, cleaning, even brain surgery. However, Sophia is a social robot – a robot created to interact with humans.

Social robots have many potential applications. There are already a number of products such as the Milo robot that helps autistic children recognize and express their emotions, and the robotic duck manufactured by Aflac that helps comfort children with cancer.

While social robots were already around before 2020, the covid pandemic seems to have fueled their popularity as the world looks for ways to keep social interaction during times of social distancing.

Another example is Hyundai, which recently announced plans to deploy social robots in showrooms in Korea to assist customers on behalf of employees to limit the risk of infection.

So now is the right time for Hanson Robotics to start bringing Sophia to the masses. Sophia told Reuters: “Social robots like me can help with elderly care, communication, therapy and comfort in difficult situations.”

Hanson’s plan in the near future is to mass produce Sophia and 3 other robot models in the first half of 2021 with the goal of selling thousands of products before the end of the year.