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Stelarc Walking Head Robot Scarier Than Necessary

The Stelarc walking head robot is a 2 meter diameter autonomous walking robot with six legs. It gets its name from the vertically mounted LCD panel that sports a computer-generated human head.


(Stelarc walking head robot)

The Walking Head robot has a scanning ultra-sound sensor that is able to detect a person standing in front of it. When in display mode, it performs on a four meter platform; its sensors detect when it is getting close to an edge.

Described as a "work in progress," the Walking Head is still under development.

This strikes me as an unnecessarily creepy looking robot (although I do like it). Consider, for example, the "head on a post" model for an ambulatory robot.


(HeadThere Giraffe telepresence robot)

The HeadThere Giraffe Telepresence Robot is not autonomous; it is directed by its user. The user can even control the tilt of the robot's head, to give it the impression of concentrating on an object (this also directs the camera).

Don't forget the equally friendly-looking PEBBLES Teleconferencing Robot.

From Stelarc walking head robot via GizmoWatch.

Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 7/9/2008)

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