Zheng Jiajia and his robot wife. Image: Qiangjing Evening News
A once-heartbroken Chinese engineer found love and acceptance in a female robot he created himself, and later married.
Zheng Jiajia, a 31-year-old artificial intelligence expert in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, created a robot which could eventually become his “lifelong partner,” South China Morning Post reported, citing Qianjiang Evening News.
The 30-kilogram robot, named Yingying, has the ability to identify Chinese characters and can even speak simple Chinese phrases, the report added. But in the near future, Zheng plans to add complex features to Yingying and enable her to do household chores and walk.
Already hopeless in his crusade towards finding a “real” partner, Zheng wed Yingying in a private ceremony on Friday. The robot was clad in a formal black suit with her face masked with a red scarf, a common practice in Chinese wedding ceremonies.
Zheng Jiajia and his robot wife. Image: Qiangjing Evening News
The ceremony was attended by Zheng’s mother, close friends and colleagues. One friend told the news site that Zheng has been relentlessly nagged by his family to get married despite his “bad luck” in courting women over the years. Hence, he decided to marry a robot.
Zheng previously worked in telecom titan Huawei before jumping to Dream Town, an internet venture startup. Gianna Francesca Catolico/JB
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