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10 Terrifying Robots that Would Give You Nightmares

Written By Geoff Ledesma
Published • October 31st, 2016
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We’ve all seen it in the movies and read it in the books – robots with artificial intelligence may have the potential to become sentient and self-aware, often ending up rebelling against their abusive creators (in the books or movies, at least). What if an AI learns to upgrade itself, evolving and transforming at a faster rate than humans can comprehend? I remember this scene from the 2014 film Automata, where a humanoid robot has reached an evolutionary stage so advanced, that the scientists who created it can no longer understand its intelligence. I guess it’s pretty much how ants can’t understand how the human mind works.

Technology has been advancing exponentially; that what was once the stuff of sci-fi is slowly becoming a part of reality! Despite the fact that we have been working with robots for decades, recent developments in robotics have “given birth” to more advanced machines, with some of them reminiscent of those androids we see in films.

In no particular order here are 10 creepy robots, which also work so well as nightmare fuel:

MIT’s Cheetah Robot

Imagine seeing this four-legged monster blocking your way home at night. If it’s not feeling friendly, running may not be a good idea because MIT’s Cheetah Robot can easily outrun you, especially if it can go at speeds faster than Usain Bolt. The worse part, it can jump over obstacles too!

Sophia

Sophia is capable of making facial expressions, eye contact, understand speech, and the cameras in her eyes allow her to remember your face (so you better be nice). Humanoid robots are creepy by the fact alone that they look like humans, but Sophia brings the creepiness level several notches higher with the lifelike facial expressions. I wouldn’t want to wake up with her inside my room.

CB2

You know what, Sophia doesn’t look so bad when you put her next to CB2. This Child-Robot with Biometric Body was supposedly built to look and behave like a human child. Tell me, how is that anywhere like a human kid??? To see CB2 running towards me and screaming “daddy!” isn’t such a happy thought.

BigDog

Boston Dynamics’ BigDog may not be able to run as fast as MIT’s Cheetah, but it’s no less creepier nonetheless. BigDog was designed to aid US soldiers in the field primarily as robotic beasts of burden capable to treading different kinds of rough terrain. However, the soldiers didn’t warmly receive it given that its loud noise may even give out their position to enemies.

Showa Hanako
https://youtu.be/tPvdyOTeXlY
Robots are created to make life easier for humans (supposedly). Such is the purpose of Showa Hanako, Showa University’s dental training robot used by the University’s dentistry students. She has a gag reflex, and can even get tired if its mouth is opened for too long. To me, she looks like she just saw something horrible and is letting out a long, silent scream.

Han

Why not go ahead and complete the family, and add a daddy robot as well? Hanson Robotics’ Han is also capable of speech, making facial expressions, and even responding intelligently to questions. When asked if he has a girlfriend, he answers, “Yes, I like women very much”. Maybe let’s keep him away from the ladies’ dorm, yeah?

Yang Yang

By now we can already agree that humanoid robots are creepy, but what makes Yang Yang stand out among the rest, is the fact that she is modeled after one of her creators. Yang Yang looks eerily similar to Song Yang, one of the researchers who developed the said robot. If we try pushing our imagination a little further, don’t you think it would be terrifying to know that some of your loved ones have actually been replaced by robots who looked just like them?

Eelume Robot

Back to the robots with animal inspirations. The Eelume robot looks like it came straight out of The Matrix movies. This serpentine machine was built to help in the maintenance of undersea equipment, which otherwise would be a tough task for humans alone. Just brush off the fact that it looks ready to eat your face off and you’ll be fine.

Toro-bots

They may look like they are creations of a mad scientist, but the Toro-bots are actually created to help you maintain your garden. These spider-lamp hybrids are controlled using an ipad and can walk, dance, and follow you around to give you light when it’s dark. Thankfully, they don’t come with sharp claws and razor fangs.

Robotic Mouth

Oh god. Try describing this robotic mouth any way you want but to me it just looks like a creepy alien-sex toy hybrid. It can speak, pump air, and even sing an ungodly tune that seemed to have come from the depths of Tartarus. Does this really look like a human mouth to you?

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I don’t know about you but I’m hoping that these robots don’t get to a whole new level of scary. I’d stick to my BB-8 and R2-D2, thank you.

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Geoff Ledesma

Geoff is a cinephile and a foodie who now works in the digital advertising industry. Know him in bite-size by following @geoffreview and checking out geoffreview.com.