While many roboticists around the world are working on making humanoid robots look more human, one lab took a surprisingly effective shortcut that could give your automaton a better face.

The Maskbot mimics the facial movements of a person using a rear-projected animation that is synced with the physical mechanics of the robot. The 3D-style "face" that appears on the robot's head has eyes that blink and a mouth the moves with a reasonable amount of animation approximating the words it vocalizes. Developed at the Institute for Cognitive Systems (ICS) at TU München in Germany, the Maskbot's face can easily be changed to reflect the user's needs. You can see the Maskbot in action in the video below.

Via Physorg