It’s a problem that all roboticists face: how do you build a robot that’s more human-like than its predecessors? One way could be to build your mechanical child as anatomically close to humans as you can, which is exactly what they did with the anthropomimetic robot Eccerobot.This means that its inner workings are constructed to mimic those of us humans as it has bones, joints, tendons, and muscles. But it could also mean he’ll get bullied at robot school for being different. The idea is that if the robot moves more like a human, it will develop more like one and therefore, hopefully, close the gap between human and artificial intelligence, allowing Eccerobot human-like relations with the world.It may look like a strange mechanical cyclops, but it’s definitely more appealing than the uncanny valley dolls. Plus, if we’re going to be enslaved by self-aware computers, at least this one has the decency to mimic our bodies. It was recently featured in the BBC documentary Horizon: The Hunt for AI.[via The Laughing Squid]@stewart23rd