--- title: "People Disturbed by Robot With Ultra-Realistic Human Face Expressions" description: "Twitter reacts to that terrifying video of Ameca, an extremely expressive humanoid robot built by UK-based robotics company called Engineered Arts." date: "2021-12-03" modified: "2021-12-03" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/people-disturbed-robot-human-face" categories: - "Robotics" - "Robots and Machines" tags: - "ameca" - "engineered arts" - "humanoid robot" - "the digest" --- # People Disturbed by Robot With Ultra-Realistic Human Face Expressions ![]() *\Image: Engineered Arts\* ## Yikes It's always a bit chilling when you come across a robot that's able to express itself so much like a human being that it almost tricks the brain into thinking it's possessed by a human spirit. That's more or less what a UK-based robotics company called Engineered Arts managed to pull off with its humanoid robot Ameca. A [recently released video]() shows the grey-faced robot suddenly come alive with human-like facial expressions — and judging by the reactions, we're not the only ones terrified of it. "Yikes," SpaceX CEO Elon Musk [tweeted]() in response to the video, despite the fact that his electric car company Tesla is [working on its own humanoid robot](). Others, though, tamped down the hype. "Guys calm down, stop freaking out, it's just a bunch of actuators and motors with rubber stretched over them to simulate facial movement," tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee [advised on Twitter](). "It's all preprogrammed. It's just for research." https://youtu.be/IPukuYb9xWw ## Nope Brownlee however wasn't immune to Ameca's terrifying expressions. "Internally: nope nope nope nope nope," he added. Some users on Twitter claimed that Engineered Arts' robot was already ushering in the singularity. "How come this robot makes more facial expressions than me," one user [chimed in](). Others sounded a cautionary note. "Ummm… have these people learned nothing from watching Westworld?!" another user [tweeted](). Some users over on Reddit were shocked by how empathetic they felt to Ameca's many expressions. "This is actually quite charming," one user [wrote](). But the most common comparison — of course — was to the Terminator. "Neat!" one Redditor [commented](). "Is this the Hunter-Killer or Human Infiltration model?" **More on the robot**: *[New Video Shows Robot With Terrifyingly Realistic Facial Expressions]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()