These hyper-real androids are climbing out of the uncanny valley

“AS SOON as you see one, you get a chill down your spine,” says Will Jackson at Engineered Arts, the UK firm behind these spookily realistic androids.

The Cornwall-based company makes robots for high-profile events such as film or TV launches, as well as for tourist attractions such as Madame Tussauds. Boasting face-tracking software, speech recognition, state-of-the-art animatronics and body parts ranging from rudimentary feet (below) to lifelike eyeballs, its creations often have people doing a double take.

The robot pictured being assembled is Fred, a character inspired by the TV show Westworld (for our review of…