VOA慢速英语2019 机器人能作画,艺术家“艾达”将问世

Meet Ai-Da, the Robot Artist

Can robots be creative?

机器人能有创造力吗？ 

British art gallery owner Aidan Meller thinks so.He hopes to begin answering that question with a robot called Ai-Da.

英国美术馆馆长艾丹·梅勒是这么认为的。他希望用一个叫作“艾达”的机器人来回答这个问题。 

Meller is overseeing the building of all her parts by engineers at Engineered Arts, a company based in Cornwall, England.The engineers believe the robot will be able to make pictures of people from sight with a writing instrument in her hand.

梅勒正在工程艺术公司监督工程师们制作艾达的所有部件，这家公司总部位于英国康沃尔郡。工程师们相信它能依据“观察”，用手中的书写工具为人作画。

Ai-Da is named after the British mathematician¹ Ada Lovelace, who is known for her work on a proposed general-purpose computer in the mid-1800s.The first part of the robot’s name, the letters AI, are short for artificial intelligence.

艾达的名字源于英国数学家阿达·洛夫莱丝，她因19世纪中期提出通用计算机而闻名。艾达名字的第一部分，字母AI， 是人工智能的英文缩写。

Meller calls Ai-Da the world’s first “AI ultra-realistic robot artist.”He wants the robot to perform like a human artist.

梅勒称艾达是世界上第一个“AI超现实机器人艺术家”，希望它能像人类艺术家一样绘画。  

He spoke² to the Reuters news agency after seeing Ai-Da’s head being carefully brought to life by specialists who were connecting individual hairs to form eyebrows³.

看到专家们小心翼翼地在艾达头部粘上一根根毛发形成眉毛，令其活灵活现，他告诉路透社。 

“She’s going to actually be drawing and we’re hoping to then build technology for her to paint,” Meller said.

梅勒说:“它真的将要绘画，我们希望能为它设计绘画技术。” 

But also as a performing artist, "she’ll be able to engage with audiences and actually get messages across; asking those questions about technology today,” he added.

此外，作为一名表演艺术家，“它得能和观众互动，并真正传达信息；就当今技术提出一些问题。”他补充道。

Ai-Da’s skeletal robotic head may still be separate from her body, but her movements are very much alive.

艾达的骨骼机器人头部可能与身体分离，但它的动作非常活跃。 

Cameras in each of her eyeballs recognize human body parts.Ai-Da will make eye contact and follow you around the room, opening and closing her mouth as you do.

它的双眼装有摄像头，能够识别人体部位。艾达能与人目光交流，跟着人在房间内走动，并像人一样张嘴和闭嘴。

Get too close and the robot will back away, closing and then opening her eyes as if in shock.

人离它太近，艾达就会眨眼，往后退，仿佛“受到了惊吓”。 

Ai-Da’s makers⁴ say she will have a “RoboThespian” body with expressive⁶ movements.She will talk and answer questions.

艾达的制造者表示，它将拥有“机甲演员”的身体，能表达动作，能够说话并回答问题。 

The specialists are using the company’s “Mesmer” life-like robot technology to create her head.Once finished, Ai-Da will have a mixed- race appearance, with long dark hair and rubber-like skin made from silicone.The teeth and skin inside her mouth will come from a three-dimensional printer.

专家们利用公司的“Mesmer”仿生机器人技术制作艾达的头部。一旦完成，它将拥有“混血”外表，长长的黑发，由硅树脂制成的橡胶状皮肤，以及3D打印的牙齿和牙龈。

Marcus Hold works at Engineered Arts.He said Mesmer “brings together the development of software mechanics and electronics to produce a lifelike face with lifelike gestures in a small human sized package.”

马库斯·霍尔德在工程艺术公司工作。他表示，“Mesmer”将软件原理与电子学相结合，在小型人形模子内，制作逼真的面部动作。

Ai-Da will make her first public appearance in May at an exhibit called “Unsecured Futures” at the University of Oxford⁷.Some of her pictures are expected to appear at another show in London later this year.

今年5月，艾达将在牛津大学的“不安定的未来”展览上首次亮相。今年晚些时候，它的一些绘画作品预计在伦敦展出。

Words in This Story

gallery – n. a room for the showing and sale of artwork

artificial intelligence – n. the ability of a machine to use and study information in an attempt to reproduce human behavior

audience – n. crowd

thespian⁵ – n. an actor

dimensional – adj. appearing to have length, width and depth

1 mathematician   

n.数学家

参考例句：

• The man with his back to the camera is a mathematician.背对着照相机的人是位数学家。
• The mathematician analyzed his figures again.这位数学家再次分析研究了他的这些数字。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 eyebrows   

眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Eyebrows stop sweat from coming down into the eyes. 眉毛挡住汗水使其不能流进眼睛。
• His eyebrows project noticeably. 他的眉毛特别突出。

4 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 thespian   

adj.戏曲的；n.演员；悲剧演员

参考例句：

• If you enjoy acting in plays,join your school's thespian club.如果你喜欢戏剧表演，就加入你学校的戏剧社团。
• The actress demonstrated thespian talents at her first audition.这位女演员第一次试镜就展现出戏剧天分。

6 expressive   

adj.表现的，表达…的，富于表情的

参考例句：

• Black English can be more expressive than standard English.黑人所使用的英语可能比正式英语更有表现力。
• He had a mobile,expressive,animated face.他有一张多变的，富于表情的，生动活泼的脸。

7 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。