FACELESS DROID
Haunting moment world-first humanoid robot ‘Protoclone’ with ‘muscles & bones’ twitches & spasms into life in eerie vid
The company recently took the robot race to Elon Musk
WATCH the haunting moment the world's first humanoid robot Protoclone - complete with muscles and bones - twitches and spasms into life.
The robot is a "clone" designed to look as human as possible - gristle, sinew and all - and its creators hope it'll soon be lurking around our homes.
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The tech start-up behind the creation, Clone Robotics, hail it as the world's first "musculoskeletal android", and released this disturbing footage of the bot jerking around like a half-dead puppet.
The video shows Protoclone hanging lifeless, head bowed, suspended from a trapeze.
Then, it begins to twitch into life with the legs kicking around.
You can even see the synthetic muscles contracting beneath the translucent skin.
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Soon all four limbs are in motion, with the bot holding itself upright with remarkably human poise.
Spasmodic movements from different joints are demonstrated - including the ankles, neck, hips, knees and elbows.
Structures press through the skin to give the eerie impression of a rib cage and other bones.
The robotics company, operating out of Poland and the US, describes Protoclone V1 as "faceless" but otherwise "anatomically correct".
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The body is a mesh of over 1,000 synthetics muscles and 500 sensors.
It boasts a staggering 200 degrees of freedom, meaning it can make 200 independent movements.
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The bot is marketed as an "android", so it aims to look as human-like as possible - hence the horrific attention to detail.
Clone is going a step further than most robot manufacturers by aiming for "synthetic humans" which, if they pull it off, will be almost indistinguishable from real people.
Dhanush Radhakrishna, Clone co-founder, said on X that the launch of Protoclone is "ground zero for the age of androids".
Their claim to have created the "world's first" musculoskeletal robot is debatable, with other models - such as Tokyo JSK Lab's 2017 Kengoro - recognised under that label.
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However, Kengoro was intended as a research project, whereas Clone has its sights set on commercial, domestic androids placed in homes around the world.
Clone previously threw down the metallic gauntlet to Elon Musk, by suggesting their own robo-tech is superior to Tesla's.
Earlier this month, Musk said: "The Tesla Optimus [Tesla's robot model] hand is so sophisticated that it makes a Fabergé seem simple."
Clone responded by saying: "The Hand of Clone has the same number of degrees of freedom and is just as fast or fast, but is:
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"Light [no meta]; stronger [muscles > motors]; cheaper [by a lot]; soft/plush [comfy massages and hugs/you can squeeze the forearm like a doll]."
The company also promised: "We will reveal a lot in 2025".
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