Chinese Company Busted Showing Off Humanoid Robots That Actually Have Humans Inside

THIS ARTICLE HELD UP BY GOOGLE

Victor Tangermann
Sat 31 August 2024

Robotplay

Footage making the rounds on social media shows what appear to be astonishingly lifelike humanoid robots posing at the World Robot Conference in Beijing last week.

But instead of showing off the latest and greatest in humanoid robotics, two of the "robots" turned out to be human women cosplaying as futuristic gynoids, presumably hired by animatronics company Ex-Robots.

"Many people think these are all robots without realizing they’re actually two human beings cosplayed as robots among the animatronics," reporter Byron Wan tweeted.

While somewhat uncanny at first glimpse, the illusion was shattered once an image of one of the hired women having lunch at the event started circulating online. Even humanoid robot cosplayers have to eat, it turns out.

https://twitter.com/Byron_Wan/status/1828001329945755876

Fool Me Once

It's not the first time we've come across humans dressed as robots on stage. In 2022, Tesla was widely mocked for hiring a dancer in a tight spandex costume to masquerade as the company's newly-announced Optimus robot.

However, the cosplayers hired by Ex-robots proved far more convincing. Readers on X-formerly-Twitter had to step in once one particularly gullible user claimed the cosplayers were "straight out of sci-fi" humanoid robots.

"The original post, clearly says these are fake robot girls," a community note attached to the post reads. "Account owner is farming engagement."

Despite hiring human cosplayers for their booth at the conference, Ex-Robots has in fact developed (admittedly less convincing) humanoid robots, which can make various facial expressions to express ersatz emotions.

In June, Reuters reported on the company's progress, showing footage of silicone arms and feet littering tables.

"The model we're making is multi-modal and capable of emotional expression," Ex-Robots CEO Li Boyang told Reuters at the time. "It can perceive the surrounding environment and produce appropriate facial feedback."

Why the company chose to hire human cosplayers for last week's World Robot Conference remains unclear. Were they hired as "booth babes," an outdated and sexist form of promotion? Or were they purposefully there to trick attendees into thinking they were robots?

Given the reception of the videos on social media, it's possible it's a mix of both.