Hitachi EMIEW2 Distinguishes Human Voices

Hitachi’s latest robot, the EMIEW2 is smart enough to tell the difference between three human voices simultaneously thanks to an array of 14 microphones mounted on the head that offers enhanced voice recognition capabilities. To help it in doing so, the voice recognition function consists of sound source separation and sound pattern recognition. The former focuses on the direction of the person speaking, letting EMIEW2 know who is speaking to it from 2 meters away, ignoring all other noise. EMIEW2 stands at 80cm tall and is suitable for receptionist positions at a desk. It gets around thanks to a wheel at the base of each leg, and has a walking function to help it navigate through stairs.