Madame Tussauds were doing something very similar to this in their waxwork museum in London almost 35 years ago. Not exactly new!!!

\"Donna Noble has left the Library. Donna Noble has been saved.\"

Disneyland has had this technology in their haunted house experience since the late 1950s. Of course it wasn\'t interactive or computer-driven, but the effect was better quality. The video shows noticeable lag between the head movement and image tracking, and the \"animation\" looks more like the cheesy animation of the old Speed Racer cartoons, with a moving mouth on a still face image. Most humans are uncomfortable with a human mimic that obviously isn\'t human, so a more practical effect would be to use obviously non-human robots with just the essentials of facial movement to convey appropriate emotion. That\'s much easier.

The new (1994) floating Madame Liotta at Disney Haunted Mansion uses a coherent fiber bundle, starting at a fixed LCD projector and ending with a custom ~180 degree short throw lens. The mask is vacuum formed and internally coated to be a high-gain rear projection screen. The original 1963 Liotta Head was of course front projected, using a 16mm projector with a film loop cabinet.

Chinese Robotic Research: Making robots look human to help around the house and keep the elderly company
American Robotic Research: Making four legged robots that can help carry military gear into battle (ala Big Dog)
Hmmmm.......

Can anyone explain what the fascination is with making robots human-like? I seriously just don\'t get it.

A bit bulky; They should develop a mask with a surface which acts as the display.

Robots themselves should not be made to look human it will bring a plethora of problems on human society. There is many documents both fictional and non-fictional on the evolution of robots that\'s show the dangers and pitfalls of making robots a/ more human in looks and actions especially decision making b/ the ability to learn enough to become self aware.
Although we maybe a long way from the path of the Terminator or the Dune Butlerian Jihad I just don\'t know that there are the right checks and balances to stop us falling in that hole while randomnly trying to see how far we can go instead pf having a planned destination for robots in a human world.
I see Asimo as a more perfect humanoid robot in that it is developing only a set of physical functions and deliberately not trying to take on human characteristics. We should never ever build a robot brain.

What is this for?! Stop trying to create robots that look human! We already have plenty of people!
It\'s like when film makers make an animated film about people who don\'t do anything that real people can\'t do. I\'m lookin\' at you, Robert Zemeckis....

Disney has been doing this for many years to great effect.