Questions 11-20. Read the passage and decide whether the following statements are True or False.

Androids are robots that closely resemble people, and some are so realistic that you might mistake them for humans if you don’t pay attention! A Geminoid is a special type of android that doesn’t just broadly resemble a human; it is meant to look like a specific person. Although a Geminoid might look like a person, it doesn’t yet have the brains to behave like one. Instead, it is controlled remotely, or pre-programmed to display simple behaviours.

Making a robot look like a person takes the work of an artist. To make the Geminoid F, researchers had to first measure the features of a woman using a 3-D scanner. They then produce a plastic mould of the woman’s face, which was then used to cast a silicone face for the robot with identical features. A lot of robots are made of hard materials, but the skin on the Geminoid F’s face and body is soft and flexible. Her silicone skin is one of the features that makes the Geminoid F seem so real. Another feature that helps to make the Geminoid F seem real is the way she moves. She blinks, twitches, and smiles almost like a real person.

The Geminoid F can be programmed to act out a simple “routine,” or it can be controlled at a distance. The person controlling the Geminoid F sits in front of a webcam that captures their facial expression, orientation, and speech. This information is then translated to robot commands that are sent to the robot over the Internet. The Geminoid F was designed to travel so that it could go to science museums, demonstrations and labs around the world. She has been used for entertainment and so on.

The Geminoid F is still limited in its ability to behave autonomously, since a human must usually control it remotely. Because the goal was to make a robot that was easy to transport, the Geminoid F doesn’t have all the motion capabilities that some other robots have; it can’t move its arms or legs, for instance. The Geminoid F also needs special external equipment, such as an air pump to power the robot’s motors and a computer responsible for sending it commands.