A robot appeared with British lawmakers earlier this week to demonstrate how machines are being engineered to act like human beings.The robot is called Pepper. It is known as a humanoid, a machine designed to look and act like a person.Pepper was called to sit Tuesday with the Education Committee in Britain's House of Commons.The parliament announced it was the first time a robot had ever appeared for questioning by lawmakers.Japan's SoftBank Robotics launched Pepper in 2014.The robot appearing in parliament belongs to an engineering and computer science team at London's Middlesex University.The students are developing the artificial intelligence or AI programs that power Pepper.AI is the ability of a machine, such as a computer, to reproduce intelligent human behavior.Pepper was welcomed to parliament by Robert Halfon, chairman of the Education Committee.
