How do you teach a robot to laugh?

Scientists in Japan are working on a robot that knows when to laugh at jokes!

Erica the robot is being programmed to laugh in the right way at the right time.

It's hoped she will be able to laugh like we do - with chuckles at little jokes, and big laughs at funnier ones!

Meet Erica - the robot who is learning to laugh!

The research team thinks with this work on Erica, they can improve Artificial Intelligence for communication with humans.

What is artificial intelligence?

Artificial Intelligence is any type of intelligence that isn't naturally made, unlike the intelligence humans and animals have.

It's the term we use when we teach computers to do things without us asking.

Ever asked your phone a question? It uses artificial intelligence to answer!

It's used a lot in modern society, all the way from a smart phone to robot labs in Japan!

For example, Netflix uses artificial intelligence by knowing what to recommend you after you have finished a TV show or film.

Teaching a robot to laugh

Dr Koji Inoue is one of the scientists working on Erica. She's a scientist at Kyoto University in Japan.

She says that empathy is really important to teach to robots to help them communicate with humans.

Empathy is the ability to understand other peoples emotions and imagine how someone else might be feeling.

You might find laughing easy - but Erica is still learning!

Whilst humans experience empathy naturally - it doesn't come that easily to robots!

So Dr Inoue started looking at all different types of laughs, such as solo laughs, embarrassed laughs, or even awkward laughs!

She then asked 80 people to speak to Erica the robot - and counted all the different laughs they did.

She's now used the data from this experiment to train Erica to laugh.

So although Erica can't actually understand what you're saying, she can use the information from Dr Inoue's work to know what things to laugh at, if you make a joke!