The Most Lifelike Humanoid Robots by Published Specs

The Most Lifelike Humanoid Robots

Engineered Arts' Ameca is the most lifelike humanoid robot on this page by published facial actuation. Engineered Arts lists 61 actuated degrees of freedom (DoF) for Ameca, with 27 in the head and facial features and 34 in the upper body, plus over 50 pre-programmed facial expressions. Instead of a price, the Ameca page links to Rent Ameca, Get a Quote and Book a Demo.

The Geminoid androids from Osaka University are built as likenesses of real people. Hiroshi Ishiguro made one that resembles him and uses it to teach classes at Osaka University. Sophia, from Hanson Robotics, is cited on Wikipedia as able to emulate more than 60 facial expressions. No price for Ameca, Sophia or a Geminoid is published at the time of writing, and none of them is sold as a consumer product. We have not tested or ordered any product on this page; every product fact comes from the sources listed.

Ameca by Engineered Arts

Engineered Arts lists Ameca at 1870 mm (73.6 inches) tall and 62 kg (137.7 lb), and identifies it as generation 2.6, from 2024. Of the 61 actuated DoF, 27 are in the head and facial features and 34 are in the upper body. Engineered Arts says Ameca comes with over 50 realistic facial expressions already pre-programmed. Each degree of freedom of Ameca's eyes, mouth, eyebrows and cheeks can also be customised in Tritium, which is Engineered Arts' own software. Two 8-megapixel (MP) cameras sit one in each eye, and Engineered Arts lists Ameca as supporting more than 70 languages.

Engineered Arts lists no price or delivery timing for Ameca at the time of writing. Anyone pricing Ameca has to use the Rent Ameca, Get a Quote or Book a Demo links on the Ameca page, because no figure appears on the page itself. See our Ameca review for the rest of the published spec sheet.

Sophia from Hanson Robotics

Sophia is a robot from Hanson Robotics, a Hong Kong-based company, and was built by David Hanson. Wikipedia's Sophia entry says she was first activated on 14 February 2016 and made her first public appearance at SXSW (South by Southwest) in Austin, Texas, in mid-March 2016. See our Sophia review for the rest of her public record.

On 25 October 2017, the Saudi government announced citizenship for Sophia, described in the same entry as the first robot to receive legal personhood in any country. For realism, the entry cites a news report saying Sophia can emulate more than 60 facial expressions. Ameca's over 50 expressions come from Engineered Arts' own page, so the two counts have different kinds of source behind them.

Hanson Robotics has not published a price for Sophia at the time of writing, and no facial actuator count for her appears in the sources on this page. No material for her skin is named either. Consumer availability is not published, so Sophia appears here as a reference point for expression range instead of a robot anyone can order.

Geminoid Androids at Osaka University

Hiroshi Ishiguro made an android that resembles him, called the Geminoid, according to the Geminoid project page from his Osaka University lab. He uses it to teach classes at Osaka University, and it performs human-like movements such as blinking, breathing and fidgeting with its hands. The project page gives no actuator count for this Geminoid, so it has no published figure to set beside Ameca's 61 DoF.

Geminoid F is a female android in the Geminoid line, shown in 2010. A report on Geminoid F says it was built to show a range of natural expressions with fewer actuators than earlier androids. The same report describes its long black hair, soft silicone skin, and lifelike teeth for a natural smile. The same report puts the number of actuators in Geminoid F at 12. For its predecessor, Geminoid HI-1, the figure varies by source: one source gives up to 46 actuators and another gives some 50. Geminoid F uses about a quarter of HI-1's actuators on either figure: 12 of 46 is 26%, and 12 of 50 is 24%.

Facial motion on Geminoid F is teleoperated, with a camera tracking the operator's face and the control system driving pneumatic actuators to match. The air servo valves and control system sit inside the body, and a small external compressor is needed. No price for any Geminoid is published, and the androids are lab projects rather than products for sale.

How to Compare Realism

The published realism numbers for these robots come in three different units, so compare figures only within the same unit. Engineered Arts counts actuated DoF and pre-programmed expressions for Ameca, the Geminoid F report counts actuators, and Sophia's figure is an expression count reported in the press. A higher number in one unit says nothing about where a robot stands in another.

Actuator counts alone do not settle how lifelike a robot looks. The Geminoid F report says that android was built to show natural expressions with 12 actuators, fewer than either figure for HI-1. Likeness is a separate measure again, because the Geminoids are built to resemble real people while Ameca's published figures describe actuation and expressions.

No independent realism score or ranking for these robots is published, and Engineered Arts does not separate Ameca's facial actuation from its head actuation in the 27 figure. No facial actuator count is published for Sophia. Treat any expression shown in a maker's demo video as that maker's claim until a figure behind it is published.

Realism Comparison Table

The table restates each robot's published realism figure and its availability at the time of writing. Ameca's page lists an actuation count and links to Rent Ameca, Get a Quote and Book a Demo. The Geminoid rows describe lab androids, and the Sophia row carries a press-reported figure. Read each realism figure in its own unit: DoF and expressions for Ameca, actuators for the Geminoid line, and expressions for Sophia. No price is published for any robot in the table at the time of writing. For Ameca, the Get a Quote link on the Engineered Arts Ameca page is the published way to ask for one.