The guy in the picture is Dr. Javier Movellan, and the robot next to him is “Diego-San.” They’re from the Machine Perception Laboratory at UCSD. The goal of the MPLab is to develop systems that perceive and interact with humans in real time using natural communication channels. They are developing perceptual primitives to detect and track human faces and to recognize facial expressions and developing algorithms for robots that develop and learn to interact with people on their own. Applications include personal robots, perceptive tutoring systems, and system for clinical assessment, monitoring, and intervention. We are slowly walking thru the uncanny valley.