Giant robo-babies crawl out of your nightmares and into reality (video)

We like robots that play soccer, save wildlife, and clean our stuff. We're not, however, particularly fond of robots who look like extras in horror movies. Such are M3-Kindy and Noby, a pair of bots recently shown at the JST Erato Asada Project symposium in Japan, both designed to study human development by basically pretending to be babies. Noby, pictured above, is a sort of abbreviation for "nine-month old baby," and that's exactly what it purports to be with a size, shape, weight, and behavior that emulates a human in that highly dependent stage. Meanwhile, M3-Kindy (shown in a video after the break) is meant to pretend to be a five-year-old, but his giant head and oversized body make him look more like a beefcake toddler to us. Kindy can walk and display emotion, using his stereoscopic vision and speech recognition to determine the effect of his feigned sadness on the weak-willed humans who hold his hand as he walks. Don't fall for the trap.