Is this the world's creepiest robot? Japanese inventor develops the bald, legless Telenoid R1 [VIDEO]

Daily Mail 08/03/2010 18:13

An elderly man communicates with his granddaughter via the new humanoid robot

Its pale torso is about the size of a small child, it has no legs and just stumps for arms.For a man who has made his life's work coming up with increasingly creepy robots, Hiroshi Ishiguro has really outdone himself this time.The Japanese roboticist has just unveiled his latest creation - a strange robotic creature called the Telenoid R1.

Ishiguro has, in the past, tried to exactly replicate living humans and once developed an eerie robot replica of himself that he named Geminoid HI-1.

He also came up with a terrifyingly lifelike female robot called the Gemnoid F.

But the new Telenoid is something of a departure for the eccentric inventor.

Ishiguro designed the Telenoid R1 to be a robot that could appear like many different ages and that is easily transportable.

It is intended to be used as a communication device so that people can 'chat' from long distances: the robot is supposed to be able toe transmit the presence' of a person from a distant place.

To operate, the user must sit at a computer with a webcam that tracks the user's movements and captures their voice.