For the record, I'm pretty keen on robots. I don't think they're evil (unlike some people). Even still, I'd balk at this many-limbed 'bot reaching for my noggin with an electric razor. A man identified only as "Tim" decided to sit down in the barber chair, and, boy, did he ever get a unique haircut.

The robot barber is a Multi-Arm Unmanned Ground Vehicle built by Maryland-based Intelligent Automation Inc., or IAI. When it's not being used to play parlor tricks for us pesky humans, it can also be found performing a wide variety of tasks such as "backpack inspection, tool handling, shovel manipulation, door breaching, knot tying, and tackling IEDs," according to IEEE Automaton's resident bot junkie and Panda Express regular Evan "Bagpipes" Ackerman (nickname origin withheld to protect the innocent).

Here, the MAUGV isn't autonomously cutting Tim's hair, but assisting an operator, who in turn is looking through the 'bot's cameras and trying to give Tim the perfect, um, hair "style."

Besides reassuring hair-cutting professionals that their jobs are safe, the video below has a second purpose: to raise money and awareness for St. Baldrick's Foundation, which helps fund the search for a cure against the development of childhood cancer.

Via IEEE Automaton and IAI