Animation expert wants to create computer systems that can think and feel

A lifelike baby girl projected on the screen looks wonderingly, her large eyes focused on the man facing her. When he smiles, she does too, although it's not clear why she's imitating him.

The virtual infant dubbed Baby X is a brainchild of Mark Sagar, director of the Laboratory for Animate Technologies at the University of Auckland in New Zealand.

Sagar, 47, was in Hong Kong earlier this year to present his project at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation. Outside the world of technological research, he is better known for his computer graphics work in blockbusters such as Avatar, Spider-Man 2 and King Kong.

A bioengineer by training, Sagar was studying how to combine applied technology for faces with his interest in computer graphics when he was drafted to work on special effects for the big screen.

Among his first Hollywood projects was The Incredible Mr Limpet in 1997, when he created a character with the face of Jim Carrey on the body of a fish. The film was never made but Sagar pressed on, developing special effects to "age" actors digitally so they would not have to wear prosthetics.

Spider-Man 2 had Sagar placing the face of actor Alfred Molina on the body of a stunt double in the first facial close-up of a completely digitally created character.