It may only be a matter of months before boy bands and teen actresses are replaced by robots - after a talking, singing fem-bot with 65 facial expressions wowed crowds in China.
Geminoid F can produce smiles and even enigmatic, quizzical expressions, using mechanical actuators underneath her rubber 'skin'.
Her creator says his goal is to create a robot that can fool people into believing it's a human being.
A robot smiles at the crowd in a shopping centre in Hong Kong, China, 10 April 2012
Geminoid F looks like a human being and can simulate the human voice when talking and singing but also express herself with up to 65 facial expressions
Geminoid F was produced by Hiroshi Ishiguro, a renowned robot designer at Osaka University in western Japan, whose androids come with a steep $1.2 million price tag.
Geminoid F is cheaper - just $110,000, which Ishiguro hopes may take the technology closer to the mainstream.
She can smile, furrow her brows and move her mouth - although she often looks rather dazed. It can also talk and sing - playing recordings, or 'mouthing' other people's voices.
Geminoid TMF is equipped with 12 motorised actuators, powered by air pressure, which allow her to 'copy' human facial expressions.
Prof Ishiguro has designed several robots made to look like humans in the past - even building one in his own image.
The professor has said that one day robots could fool us into believing they are human.
'What is a human?' he asks. 'Please define, and we will make a copy.'
