The world's most human-like robot has begun work as a university receptionist as scientists predict the new technology will eventually provide childcare and offer friendship to lonely elderly people.

世界上最逼真的人形机器人“纳丁”已经开始了她作为大学接待员的工作。科学家预计这种机器人最终将能承担保姆和护工的工作，为幼儿和孤寡老人提供服务。

With her soft skin and flowing brunette hair, Nadine does not only meet and greet visitors, smile, make eye contact and shake hands, but she can even recognise past guests and spark up conversation based on previous chats.

纳丁有着细嫩的皮肤和柔顺的深褐色头发，她不仅会跟参观者打招呼、微笑、进行眼神交流和握手，甚至还能认出老熟人，并与他们继续上次未聊完的话题。

Unlike conventional robots, Nadine has her own personality, mood and emotions. She can be happy or sad, depending on the topic.

不同于传统机器人，纳丁有自己的个性、情绪和情感，她可以根据谈话内容表现出高兴或是悲伤。

Powered by intelligent software similar to Apple's Siri or Microsoft's Cortana, she is the brainchild of scientists at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and is based on her creator Prof Nadia Thalmann.

纳丁是新加坡南洋理工大学（NTU）科学家们的智慧结晶，其运行机制类似苹果Siri或微软小娜，她的外貌完全是按照其创造者纳迪娅·塔尔曼教授的样子为蓝本。

Prof Thalmann, the director of the Institute for Media Innovation who led the development of said robots such as Nadine are poised to become more visible in offices and homes in future.

塔尔曼教授是媒体创新研究所主任，她负责领导此次的机器人研究项目。像纳丁这样的机器人未来会在办公场所和居民家中扮演越来越重要的角色。

“Robotics technologies have advanced significantly over the past few decades and are already being used in manufacturing and logistics,” she said.

塔尔曼表示：“机器人技术在过去几十年里发展迅速，并已经开始应用于制造业和物流工作中。”

“As countries worldwide face challenges of an aging population, social robots can be one solution to address the shrinking workforce, become personal companions for children and the elderly at home, and even serve as a platform for healthcare services in future.

“当全球都面临人口老龄化的挑战时，社交机器人可以成为解决劳动力萎缩的工具之一，可以是家中老人孩子的陪伴者，甚至未来还能充当提供卫生保健服务的平台。”

"Over the past four years, our team at NTU have been fostering cross-disciplinary research in social robotics technologies -- involving engineering, computer science, linguistics, psychology and other fields -- to transform a virtual human, from within a computer, into a physical being that is able to observe and interact with other humans."

“过去四年，我们团队致力于社交机器人技术的跨学科研究，涉及的技术包括工程学、计算机科学、语言学、心理学等领域。我们的研究将计算机里的虚拟人物变成了现实里客观存在的机器人，她能够察言观色并与人类交流。”

Vocabulary

brunette：深色的

cross-disciplinary：跨学科的；交叉学科的