What would happen if Tmsuk and Waseda University, two of Japan's leading robot inventing companies, united? What would be the end-result of their awesome experience combined? A new type of robot? An entirely new race? Well, that has already happened and the result is a little different from what you imagine: the emotional fully motional robot.

Kobian is a bot that can walk, interact with humans and use its entire body to express itself. Its double jointed neck lets it portray some more complex postures and expressions, while, with the help of motors in its head, is can move its lips, eyelids, eyebrows and so on. It may not look like Battlestar Galactica's Caprica 6 but I am pretty sure it's not that far ahead as some of us might think.

Pretty soon we'll be fighting side by side with robots or waging a desperate war for our survival in a Terminator: Salvation-like scenario. Anyway, if you look at the embedded video, you will probably notice the range of emotions that Kobian goes through and the fluidity with which it moves its artificial limbs. You will also probably see two guys standing somewhere to the right.

I couldn't help asking myself, what's creepier, the robot that mimics human movement with such natural fluidity or two humans that look like they have been interacting with robots far more than they have with humans. One thing is obvious: a future without robots will not be possible. Whether that future is more in the lines of Terminator and Battlestar Galactica or more in the lines of Asimov's I Robot, only the future will tell.

Though frankly, if I were to judge based on humanity's paranoia and quick temper regarding defense, it’s not the robots we should fear.




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