Video: Meet scary baby robot Yotaro

Just two weeks ago, we gave you m-synchy and m-neony, two super-advanced baby humanoids developed by a Japanese research institution. While those two robots were weird but looked rather harmless, baby robot Yotaro [JP], made by the University of Tsukuba in Japan, is really looking scary – just look at those pictures.

Yotaro has been around for some time now, but the University apparently showed the latest version to the international press recently. The purpose of the robot is to simulate the behavior of a real human child, and it has an arsenal of gimmicks to make it happen: a touch-sensitive face, artificial tear ducts (when Yotaro is “weeping”, warm water flows down his oversized cheeks), speakers (he can cry and giggle), motors for his feet and hands (so he can move realistically) etc.

Yotaro is able to change his facial expressions, “sleep”, run a fever and fall into good or bad mood, depending on how often you touch his face. But he’s not designed to be cute, which is a mystery as Japan normally loves to make literally everything as cute as possible – so why not babies?

Here’s a video made by the University of Tsukuba (in English):

Via The Straits Times