To kill all humans or not to kill all humans, that is the question. (Image courtesy ECCEROBOT)

Stuff You Should Know’s Josh Clark posted a blog yesterday about machine-on-human violence in which he recklessly dared his more robotic readers and listeners to rise up and kill all humans.

Needless to say, this has put everyone in the office on edge. The snack machine is more cantankerous than usual, the writers are avoiding members of the IT department and Allison Loudermilk didn’t even come into work this morning. The situation is all the more dire because, yes, robots now have access to bones, muscles, tendons and ligaments.

Face it, you grew up watching humanoid robots walking and running around with a certain degree of competence. Even the more herky-jerky specimens at least looked like they’d be able to get back up if you pushed them over. This is in sharp contrast to many of the actual humanoid robots that developers have unveiled — such as ASIMO, which looks about as surefooted as a 90-year-old on a rope bridge.

The problem is that human movement involves a complex array of muscles and ligaments built on a framework of bone. Try to mimic that with traditional mechanical parts and, at best, you get an unnatural puppet. But now a five-nation team based at the UK’s University of Essex has unveiled the Eccrrobot, an anthropomimetic robot which doesn’t just mimic the human form or human movements, but the biological structures that make it possible.

Yes, it has a plastic skeleton, kite line tendons and shock cord muscles. Screwdriver motors provide the power. The result, as you can see in the video, are very human movements, produced through an intricate biomimetic system.  Watch as it manipulates something that looks suspiciously like a bong or a $15 festival daiquiri (are they preparing Eccrrobot for Glastonbury next year?).

The robot even shakes hands, which leads me to my next point. Mr. Clark, if you’re reading this, shouldn’t you consider extending that hand of friendship to our bony robot brethren instead of toppling them over and taunting them with your mighty articulated skeleton?

Thanks to robot sympathizer Rob Sheppe for sending me an article about this.

Learn to love the machine at HowStuffWorks.com:
How ASIMO Works
How Biomimicry Works
How Bones Work
How Muscles Work
How Robot Armies Will Work