Eccerobot, 'Anthropomimetic' Robot, Has Human-Like Joints, Bones, Tendons (VIDEO)

We may not be able to build a human-like replicant just yet, but robotics engineers have managed to create a machine man that's far more realistic than C-3PO.

ECCEROBOT, short for Embodied Cognition in a Compliantly Engineered Robot, might not look much like a human, but its artificial bones, joints and tendons mimic our own, allowing for complex movements.

The creepy-looking device, created by a consortium of engineers in five countries, is billed as the first 'anthropomimetic' robot. That means that "Instead of just copying the outward form of a human, it copies the inner structures and mechanisms," according to the project's website.

Will Eccerobot impersonate humans and infiltrate our society to achieve its nefarious goals? Not quite. Believe it or not, it's designed to advance research in artificial intelligence.

Project leader Dr. Owen Holland, professor of cognitive robotics at the University of Sussex in England, believes that "Our physical form actually helps shape the way we think, and without a body, artificial intelligence cannot exist," according to a BBC report.

See more videos of creepy robots in the slideshow below.

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• Meet Jules, the newest and most realistic humanoid robot yet from David Hanson and the team at Hanson Robotics.

• A robot that looks just like its creator (www.newscientist.com).

• Engineers at Kagawa University in Japan are developing a talking robotic version of the human mouth: To enable the robot's speaking abilities, engineers at Japan's Kagawa University used an air pump, artificial vocal chords, a resonance tube, a nasal cavity, and a microphone attached to a sound analyzer as substitutes for human vocal organs.

• ACTROID-F in AIST Open Lab 2010.

• Robot modeled after Albert Einstein. Einstein mimics the facial expressions he detects in others. Smile at him, and he'll smile back.

• Cybernetic human dance demo in DCEXPO, 2010.

• Humanoid face created by Hanson Robotics (www.hansonrobotics.com). Robotics scientists at Hanson previously created animatronic puppets for Disney studios.

• Animatronic baby mechanism for anonymous TV series. Built by Chris Clarke for CNFX Workshop.

• Taiwanese Kissing Robots (NTUST Robot) were exhibited in AutoRob2009 in Gwangju, Korea. They were developed by Prof. Chyi-Yeu Lin's research team in National Taiwan University of Science and Technology.

• Robot girl with silicone skin.

Comments

[BannedInBoston]

09:50 PM on 04/21/2012

Not impressed. The robot's movements looked much more herky-jerky than, for example, the Boston Dynamics Petman robot's do. Plus it doesn't look like the fingers move at all. I think there's a fundamental fallacy involved in trying to give a humanoid robot humanlike "musculature"....

[ProudToBeVeryLiberal]

05:20 AM on 04/21/2012

Looks like someone is trying to build a Terminator...

[SpaghettyIrish]

07:42 AM on 04/20/2012

I was half-expecting the robot to strangle the man that was speaking.

[BannedInBoston]

09:52 PM on 04/21/2012

Hoping, even....

[cagog]

11:29 PM on 04/19/2012

Finally! A proto-bioroid or biorobot will come at last.

[Nicole Jaime]

11:43 AM on 04/19/2012

That seems like it was set up.

[StinkyPete0279]

07:51 PM on 04/18/2012

Selling my Cyberdyne Systems shares as we speak

[cagog]

11:27 PM on 04/19/2012

Dont forget to check Skynet's 401k, cause manufacturing T-800's and T-888's are very expensive.

[FDRbyGodDemocrat]

01:27 PM on 04/18/2012

When they get it looking like Daryl Hannah, wake me up.

[Malcontent21]

01:12 PM on 04/18/2012

Orwellian nightmare meets Skynet... this cannot be good.

[Thinking Conservative]

11:32 AM on 04/18/2012

The second iteration of boehner is as creepy as the first !

[one1byke]

11:27 AM on 04/18/2012

nah....! Very 1983....
It's a robot. A sad, 1983, robot, room, and researcher.
Scientist: "we're really sad 'ACTUALLY!''... while awkwardly moving switches...

If the Robot HAD thought the Scientist was sincere, the Robot would be an idiot.

[jonny dipstick]

10:39 AM on 04/18/2012

Wow, this is one step closer to me getting a robot gf. I can't wait! Its going to be great!

[BannedInBoston]

09:54 PM on 04/21/2012

It'll cost ya....

[jonny dipstick]

11:32 PM on 04/21/2012

cost me what?