'Noyolikni', the AI-Powered Mexican Robot that introduced attendees to HRI (Human-robot interaction)
3D EXPERIENCE WORLD 2026 - George R. Brown Convention Center
Period of the project: December 2025 - January 2026 (2 months)
Project Description.
Noyolikni—meaning “friend of the heart” in Nahuatl—is an interactive social robotics project designed to create meaningful and intuitive connections between humans and machines.
The project features two robots, Noyo and Likni, who act as friendly companions that invite people to engage, smile, and interact. Through computer vision and voice interaction, Noyolikni responds to users in real time—detecting smiles, holding simple conversations, and expressing emotions through movement and visual feedback.
A custom interface allows these interactions to be seen and understood, displaying smile counts, highlighting the “best smile”, and turning human expressions into something tangible and shared. The goal of Noyolikni is to make robotics feel approachable, emotional, and accessible to everyone.
Contributions.
This project was fully designed and developed by Alejandra Saldívar as part of the AS ROBOTICS initiative.
The work includes:
Concept development and system design of both robots (Noyo and Likni)
Mechanical design and physical assembly
Electronics integration and hardware implementation
Development of computer vision systems using OpenCV and YuNet
Creation of a custom user interface to visualize interaction data (smiles, batches, and highlights)
Implementation of voice interaction using speech-to-text and text-to-speech systems
Programming of expressive behaviors, including movement and emotional feedback
All aspects of the project—from idea to execution—were built independently.
Project Results.
Noyolikni was presented internationally at 3DEXPERIENCE World 2026 in Houston, Texas, where it was showcased in the Makers Zone. The project was also featured in the official event highlight video.
During the four-day event, the robots interacted continuously with attendees, recording an average of 500 smiles per day, demonstrating strong engagement and emotional connection with users from diverse backgrounds.
Photos courtesy of 3DEXPERIENCE World
Acknowledgements.
Special thanks to the SOLIDWORKS User Group Network for fostering a global community of makers and leaders.
Gratitude to Dan Wagner for encouraging participation and empowering leaders to bring their projects to an international stage.
A heartfelt thank you to Our Next Make, especially Chinloo and Sal, for providing the opportunity to volunteer in the Makers Zone and present this project at a global event.
Some facts.
Just minutes before traveling to the U.S., Noyo suffered a critical failure—the robot’s face display was accidentally damaged. With no time to rebuild before departure, the solution had to happen on-site in Houston. A new body was rapidly fabricated inside the Makers Zone, and a replacement screen was sourced to restore the robot’s expressive face. Despite the setback, Noyolikni was successfully rebuilt and fully operational for the event—becoming not only a demonstration of human–robot interaction, but also of resilience, adaptability, and real-time problem solving.