My robot double sells out (so I don't have to)

Thanks to Engineered Arts! www.engineered... | AD: 👨‍💻 NordVPN's best deal is here: nordvpn.com/to... - with a 30-day money-back guarantee!
Edited by Dave Stevenson www.davestevens...
I haven't been able to do VPN advertising for a long time. Well, this one time, I don't have to: because the robot double's going to do it for me.
With many thanks to all the team at Engineered Arts who worked on this. To be clear, this is not sponsored by them, I paid money (technically, NordVPN's money) for the Mesmer robot -- or at least, for the silicone mask and 3D printed skull that were put together for just one day!
🟥 MORE FROM TOM: www.tomscott.com/
(you can find contact details and social links there too)
📰 WEEKLY NEWSLETTER with good stuff from the rest of the internet: www.tomscott.c...
❓ LATERAL, free weekly podcast: lateralcast.com/ / lateralcast
➕ TOM SCOTT PLUS: / tomscottplus
👥 THE TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES: / techdif

[@TomScottGo]

Don't worry, the robot double has been fully decommissioned. It is absolutely not writing this comment instead of actual Tom.

[@Corsaka]

:suspicion:

[@theglimpse3785]

Sure robot, sure!

[@ririwxs]

alright but still a bit suspicious though…

[@Fred_Invaia]

ok

[@vax.8491]

holy fart.

[@hobie1613]

I think one of the big issues with humanoid robots is we don’t just speak with our jaw. We speak with our jaw, tongue, and lips. No robot has all of those moving at the same time, or they just don’t get it right. Until then, ultra realistic humanoid robots will just be flat out creepy.

[@gwiazdapioun2127]

I want to see how it looks talking when you put a facemask on, because then we might be somewhat in trouble.

[@KaimasterXD]

This is the reason why it seems weird. This "uncanny valley feeling" only sets in when sth is close to natural but still not perfect. For this reason, dolls and other stuff are consciously designed to actually not look all that human like.

[@katharineshade9550]

@@KaimasterXD except those newborn dolls… they creep me out…

[@rmdodsonbills]

Right. Someone who reads lips would just see "blah blah blah." I was almost buying it until it was supposedly talking.

[@georgeiii2998]

@Kai But this is fully intended to be really realistic, but the technology isn't there yet so it just ends up looking bad.

[@userSchlonsch]

This was just Tom Scott presenting us the old prototype version of himself. Turns out he’s actually been Tom Bot all along

[@Angel_Underscore]

Bott*

[@Czeckie]

these mild delights have sensible ends

[@adaroben1104]

1K^ congrats

[@shroovey]

@@Angel_Underscore Bot

[@iamdmc]

Tom's Bot

[@Rurumeto]

Those... cold... dead... eyes... They did a really good job of replicating that with the robot!

[@inoderlulzer5163]

That's rough, man.

[@Aayuuush721]

No way 💀

[@NachitenRemix]

rofl

[@philcollinslover56705]

for tom scott??!?!

[@xWood4000]

The upper eye lids are really the biggest issue with making it realistic

[@korenn9381]

yes, for sure. But we as humans hone in on the imperfections. If the eyelids were made perfect, another thing would stand out. Welcome to the uncanny valley.

[@sauvanto9316]

Wrinkles in the skin are missing, the silicone is still too stiff compared to thin human skin

[@Pickle-oh]

That, and the lips when talking aren't animated.

[@Ben-ew3hv]

That and the lip sinking are the biggest issues

[@maxeldel]

Don't forget the Water in the Eye's and the Water in general. We are always wett

[@djcsdy2]

Tom Scott is the only person in the world who could find a way to make me voluntarily watch an advert. Well played!

[@mikeuk1927]

Check out this year's LTT's april fools video. That's some advert you would also watch voluntarily.

[@qwertyasdf9290]

internet historian

[@LucienHughes]

Jay Foreman is the master of this

[@DanTheStripe]

Also came here to mention Jay Foreman, absolute legend.

[@PetersLabAviation]

is the only bot*

[@goodboi650]

Tom Bott's expressions when interrupted by Tom Scott are absolutely priceless.

[@VxJasonxV]

+1 Tom Bott

[@proloycodes]

you did it.

[@Snookbone]

I work with a guy called Tom Bott

[@spencerthegarfieldfanboy]

@@Snookbone neat

[@zenmasterwannabe]

Scottbot

[@jademonass2954]

if they made the eyelids actually connected, it would have been 47% more human

[@AManOnline.]

Also the lips. They were a little bit open the whole time

[@zechsblack5891]

I imagine both of these are possible but beyond the budget of this video or what than could do for free/discount

[@darkjanggo]

you dont think Tom "Facial Paralysis" Scott looks realistic enough?

[@xSaraxMxNeffx]

for me it was the lips, they didnt really react to the jaw at all. though he did look just like what would happen if tom scott had a stroke, so atleast you got the 'that could theoretically be a person' down

[@Skorpeonismyrealname]

It kinda looks like they were at one point, but the "skin" either tore or sloughed

[@ttww1590]

The missed April fools potential is immeasurable.

[@NixillShadowFox]

April Fools Day 2024 is on Tom's normal upload day. 🤔

[@lianadoom]

I know right

[@fep_ptcp883]

"I died in a car accident in late March. However, in a lucky turn of events, my brain was already scanned for an upcoming video, so, after my death, my brain and my consciousness got uploaded to this robot in a weird experiment. Let's see how it goes"

[@General12th]

@@lianadoom no u

[@lianadoom]

@@General12th what?

[@tparadox88]

Tom Scott: "please nobody Deepfake me." Also Tom Scott:"could you guys build a robot likeness of me to do my ad reads for me?"

[@whocares269]

@@EEEEEEEE bound bound bound bound

[@A.Martin]

for now Robots can't fool us, but a video deepfake can.

[@TheRenegade...]

@@EEEEEEEE HSUR

[@cpt_nordbart]

You look like Gary Brannon in this small pic.

[@sayrith]

Let's deepfake his robot with his face on it. That way its the ultimate robot look alike

[@MegaLag]

This is by far the best sponsorship integration I have ever seen 👏🏼 Great video, Tom!

[@gaz9411]

Couldn't agree more, probably the only sponsored section I've actually sat through!

[@fv9422]

That's true... damned...

[@oskarsmezeckis5405]

@@gaz9411 This, and mostly anything from Map Men

LMAO! Someone on SponsorBlock marked the main part as sponsorship, so it skipped. :D

[@unvergebeneid]

@ I know, so annoying!

[@hayond656]

When the Robot is talking you can clearly tell how "bad" the mouth movement is But when Actual Tom interrupts the Robot looks more genuinely annoyed that someone is cutting in

[@h8GW]

Please keep this at 666. I think it adds some symbolism to this video.

[@devikagopakumar8906]

7:32

[@UselessDuckCompany]

I have seen westworld, so I know this is all going to work out fine

[@TheMijman]

The film? Or the series?

[@cc-dtv]

Tfw no qt 3.14 robot gf

[@MonkeyJedi99]

@@TheMijman The film, of course. Yul Brynner or nothing!

[@nicholasmarshall3191]

Haha! Nothing to worry about.

[@sh7de553]

Doesn't look like anything to me

[@logicaleman]

The fact that there are moments where the robot briefly leaves the uncanny valley and registers as a "human" is more terrifying than just the regular "uncanny valley" robots

[@garenthino]

For me, instead of terrifying, those moments create excitement of what we'll be able to do in the future. For so long, the Uncanny Valley was looked at as something that couldn't be traversed or overcome, that the closer and closer we got the worse it would get. Now with the latest technology and applications, we're starting to see on a fundamental level that it's just a valley, and we're coming up the hill on the other side.

[@popkornking]

@Cancer McAids username checks out

[@poudink5791]

@@popkornking Eh, there was certainly a slightly less rude way to word that, but I agree with them. I really don't see it ever leaving uncanny valley.

[@Pingviinimursu]

@@poudink5791 Can't say that it tricked me either, but I just watched a video. If Tom said so while looking at it in the umm... "flesh", I choose to believe that it's good enough to fool a human at certain moments.

[@squirlmy]

There's still argument in academia of whether the "uncanny valley" really exists. There may be a collection of no-quite realistic robots that seem "uncanny" but no real measure to this realism, or lack thereof. Perhaps the "uncanny" isn't that closely tied to "realism". The "valley" might be more like the "uncanny pit". There may not be a "slope" to the valley. I hope I'm saying that in a way that makes sense.

[@evan]

This is SO incredibly creepy but also SO incredibly cool

[@jasperr1822]

Didn't expect to see you here

[@idontwantahandlethough]

Can you imagine working there and staying late one night to finish up some work? You're the only one still there... except for the lifeless, almost-human forms positioned in various poses throughout the office. Or at least you don't think they can move.. but then again, you don't remember TommyTron3000 being so close to your desk.. _Wait, did that one just move?_ Hah, must have been staring at my monitor for too long, I'll need to go grab another coffee.

[@2010ngojo]

Uncanny valley is a hell of a drug.

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

The two go hand in hand surprisingly often.

[@ekathe85]

The eyelids were a little weird. I was like, this is Tom, not Thom

[@YochevedDesigns]

Tom's reactions are solid gold! If they work on the eyelids and mouth more, they'll have it nailed. The bot was having trouble with the "O" shape of the lips. I lipread a lot, and when it said "Nord" it looked to me like it was saying "nerd". They should have some deaf people come in and help work on the facial movements.

[@koibubbles3302]

thats a good idea!

[@31hashtag]

"today's video is sponsored by Nerd VPN"

[@Here_is_Waldo]

That might have been a bit much work for a free or discounted robot face.

[@GothGuy885]

Excellent Idea 😀

[@BackflipBrickfilms]

@@31hashtag🤓

[@rileykemp1]

it was incredibly realistic until it spoke. the detailing of the actual robot is insane, but there's a lot of progress to be made on movement. i cant wait to see how close it gets in the future.

[@secularmonk5176]

The "musculature" and smooth motion on the "floor models" shown at the beginning were much smoother ... I suppose this is what Tom's budget could afford! 😄

[@LorenzoGiordanoGomes]

@@secularmonk5176 NordVPN's*

[@yirli4176]

I think it looks that way because it's a Mesmer, not an Ameca, with Ameca they got facial expressions quite advanced, at least from the clip we saw

[@hanzofactory]

At the end when it was looking at Tom it went super realistic again, actually kinda scary at times

[@incongruousinquiry]

@@shakti666 the only thing evil about robotics is people choosing to use it an evil way -- this is just clever engineering and excellent craftsmanship 👍

[@dilandduck1016]

7:00 The way the robot moved, looked to the side and then nodded in agreement with Tom was just Incredible, that was the most realistic and natural thing it did

[@aceman0000099]

It's still nowhere near what Disney can do with their animatronics, those can look as realistic as video game animations

[@alalalala57]

@@aceman0000099 Have you seen the presidents animatronics. Realistic my foot.

[@aconitine182]

Tom does something very similar, so it looks extra natural!

[@tylisirn]

@@alalalala57 Not all of them are equally good in every attraction. The presidents are some of the oldest and most limited animatronics they have in use.

[@biharek7595]

The fact that a VPN company actually reached to Tom is even more surprising than the fact that the advert was presented by a robot

[@psoma_brufd]

Then you consider that it's NordVPN who will throw money at anyone willing to take it...

[@actuallyneon]

Hm Tom Scott and VPN adverts, funny history.

[@psoma_brufd]

@@Naleksuh absolutely.

[@DrekiTech]

I'm not surprised it was Nord though, their whole saga with Internet Historian is wild.

[@DerKatzeSonne]

Well... I guess the fact that they managed to convince Tom to sponsor a video after "that" video has a huge advertising effect tied to it. If a critical person suddenly "changes their mind" about something (even though Tom didn't, not really, but some people will certainly see it this way), that will have a huge psychological effect on people. Much more than just normal advertising where some random guy will tell you about some VPN company.

[@thomasdrake8630]

Tom bot didn't get scrubbed from the valley enough, but I can tell the company is on the right vien. For the grey robot, There was more time in the details, like additional lip movement parameters, more brow subtlety, the cleanliness of the lines surrounding the eyes. Tom bot was just a rush, & it shows, but I'm sold that the bot builders are on a solid path. When comparing the grey bot to that monstrosity called Sofia, the competition goes directly to the Grey bot. Great work yall.

[@mnomadvfx]

The grey bot had more facial actuators so it has an immediate headstart. When they start switching to artificial muscles like HASEL and fill out the face with them I think we will begin to see a more physically accurate degree of facial animation.

[@S_O_O_C]

Tom meeting his robot felt like a twist on a horror movie, truly unearths undiscovered emotions

[@kaldobie5994]

This is incredible. Now we know how they made Musk, Zuck, Bez and Liz Holmes

[@AnimeFan-wd5pq]

The replica of Tom Scott is honestly amazing. Although the human motions still need a bit of tweaking, the fact that someone that isn’t looking hard enough would be fooled is quite amazing enough.

[@omnicognatee]

it almost seems like the "skin" they put on it doesn't quite fit right, it's impressive how good they can get it though in a relatively short timeframe

[@ccf_1004]

The mouth movements remind me of the lip sync from old PS1/2 era games

[@AlessandroRodriguez]

the human clone or the robot replica?

[@misterthegeoff9767]

yeah the lip flaps need some work, it actually looks way closer when it's idling than when it's trying to lip sync

[@A_Salty_Fishe]

I'm sure they're meant to speak at a slower cadence. KZbinrs tend to speak very quickly in their videos and Tom in particular I think also just naturally has a faster cadence.

[@JPTQJR]

The absolute madlad requested a robot version of himself just to get his NordVPN sponsorship back

[@pileofstuff]

Not only that, but they paid enough for building the "really, really expensive robot" to be worth doing.

[@rainestorm6029]

Did anyone else get really bad chills at the end when the robot re-wakes up?

[@austinclark3495]

Yes. I hate how legitimate it looks.

[@Jasper_4444]

I stopped the video before that point, assuming nothing more would happen. Now you've made me watch the stuff that'll give me nightmares.

[@awesam2399]

@@Jasper_4444 same. Curse you, Rainestorm!!

[@mndlessdrwer]

The main issue I have is with the corners of the eyes. It's a challenging part even when you're just dealing with animating a 3D model and those issues seem to compound when you make it in real silicone flesh as well. I suspect embedding some extra elastic into the corners of the eyes between the upper and lower lids to pull them taut would help to keep a more natural eye shape when it opens and closes the eyes. Still, it is a remarkable likeness. The other problem that leads to the uncanny valley effect is that the silicone and the pigments on the surface aren't able to fully replicate the sub-surface scattering of light in the same way that the human skin does, so it comes out looking more shallow than the real thing. Maybe backing a more translucent flesh-toned silicone with a red opaque silicone could help with that. The challenge with skin is that it isn't nearly as opaque as people ordinarily expect and just trying to paint on the color of skin as a surface treatment isn't nearly enough to make something look lifelike. I wonder if making the skin in a three-part process with a red backing layer, a semi-translucent base layer, painting it with more intense pigmentation, then applying a thin coat of an even more translucent skin-tone silicone and finally finishing it with a last layer of light airbrushing would get you the closest.

[@Beakerbite]

There's several issues that these replicas have. Their skin doesn't have pores so obviously patchy skin doesn't look right. The eyelid movements are too slow and the eyes are dead compared to a normal humans erratic eye movements. The facial movements also quite slow and give the robot the feeling of a child that has a severe mental disability. It all adds up to something very wrong.

[@devalt1]

They should hire you!

[@anderoo8206]

The robot couldn’t keep his eyes open

[@anyuisnotanya]

I also found the chin to not match Tom's

[@ktoput7333]

Also i think iris is too reflective. But the most uncanny valley feeling for me was coming from the shadow on top of eyelid. Too much of a gap. In this robot, if i see correctly, eyelid is just sliding behind brow ridge instead of folding. Probably material problem. Maybe real eyelid is too thin to replicate in silicon?

[@NaudVanDalen]

Robot: "What is my purpose?" Tom: "You do sponsorships." Robot: "Oh my God!"

[@MrCh0o]

"Empathy module not responding."

[@Damond_Warrior]

This is why robots will hate us

[@benonaru]

glad to know im not the only one who sets motes as my profile picture

[@randallulrich]

Robot: "Why? Why was I programmed to feel pain?" ---The Simpsons ("Lisa the Skeptic" (1997))

[@swanclipper]

Welcome To The Club Pal!

[@Sauspreme]

So I'm supposed to believe, that the VPN companies blacklisted you for calling them out, but *so long as it's a robot of you,* they're ok with it? That just seems way too... personal.

[@JB-fh1bb]

The robot is a distinct legal entity

[@deantjewie]

It's a joke

[@casaraku1]

@@JB-fh1bb are they sentient beings since they are more intelligent and healthier than humans..

[@cowts535]

@@casaraku1 robots aren’t sentient yet, humans have much more computing power than any computer but instead of it being specialized for actual computing it’s just mostly used on recognizing stuff, emotions, controlling the body, etc

[@lightning_11]

I mean, a lot of the point behind a VPN is pretending to be someone else, somewhere else. Maybe the robot fooled them?

[@kommiekoathanger1418]

I can’t believe that we got to see what the inside of toms head looks like in this video, it honestly explains so much about how he has knowledge on so many things

[@danielduggan03]

The robot coming back to life and just staring at the end... bone-chilling

[@OsamaRana]

Now if only it had done a full toothy grin... 😁

[@mementomori7160]

After it was turned off I was waiting if it'll move again, I wasn't wrong

[@euansmith3699]

It just needs the Terminator theme 🤖😆

[@Ghiaman1334]

@@mementomori7160 Bro same. I was just pointing at the screen in intervals like 'and it gets up... now! no... now!'

[@archvillain]

I was low-key waiting for it to make eye-contact in the very last second, had me staring at the screen till the very end of the video.

[@AJCham]

For me, I think Ameca solves the uncanny valley problem pretty much perfectly. The blue/grey skin tone already cues us in that this is not a real human, so I don't get any creepy vibes seeing her in motion, unlike with Mesmer or robo-Tom. It was similar with Sonny in I, Robot. By having an obvious non-human aesthetic as part of the design, the robots counter-intuitively become more personable and life-like.

[@JamesChurchill]

It doesn't "solve" it, it just sits on the other side of the valley. We already readily accept non-realistic depictions - even a crude stick figure representation can elicit empathy in us, likewise caricatures, animations, dolls etc don't cause any problems. It's only when we try to get as close to realistic as possible that suddenly we reject the result as un-natural and creepy.

[@HiddenWindshield]

I don't think that it's *JUST* that it's obviously non-human. That's a big part of it, but not all. For instance, the robot baby thing in Daft Punk's Technologic video is obviously non-human, yet most people still find it creepy af.

[@leetri]

@@HiddenWindshield It does have human teeth, remove those and it becomes a whole lot less creepy.

[@bearcubdaycare]

It may be that robots/androids sit permanently on the other side of the uncanny valley, for the most part, as that's how people are comfortable interacting with them. If you're not sure who's human, that might be uncomfortable.

[@olgierdvoneverec4135]

That being true, the robot without the skin would not be creepy or uncanny at all, instead I personally think it's more the lack of texture that hides the inperfections in the way skin behaves and looks, we just don't have a reference for an absolutely perfectly smooth gray skin for us to go "something's not quite looking right".

[@MisterFribble]

I feel like the original Ameca (the gray robot) was able to leave the uncanny valley for me, simply because of the gray skin telling me it wasn't human. Tom Bott, however, was really deep in that valley.

[@yelpkelp9134]

Hehehe tom bott

[@eladrialskeksis]

When they figure out how to have robots that have a little moisture in places like the tear ducts… then I’ll get creeped out. It would still be weird to stare down your sim though.

[@ZapDash]

Agreed

[@brianpeck4035]

Ameca seems so much more facially articulate. Much more engaging for me no matter the color.

[@bubaaaaaaaaa]

THIS IS SOW WEIR

[@larsmuldjord9907]

7:55 at this point it works really well. When "he" gazes slightly towards Tom and he then gets eager and the eyes open up wide and the mouth opens up further. I feel like that is "more Tom". :D

[@coreinc.9658]

I feel like their latest robot is actually really close to getting out of the uncanny valley, the absolutley NAILED the way the eyes moved, all they need now is to focus on the mouth

[@squirlmy]

are you talking about Ameca at 1:07 ? Technically the Tombot was their "latest"

[@mzaite]

When you keep the rest of it robot looking, it helps sell it. There's a reason they haven't done a "human" Amecha.

[@matthewoyan]

@@mzaite Yup, it's not uncanny valley level if you keep it from trying to look human. I'm impressed with their latest robot so far

[@mzaite]

@@matthewoyan It's why C3-P0 works even though nobody would ever believe Anthony Daniels was a real human being outside of the costume.

[@IanM86]

I dunno, like i was very aware the eyes weren't "looking" at anything as they were moving, and while the tracking was ok the saccades were off

[@victormunroe2418]

I always suspected NordVPN was getting bots to shill their product

[@ejajafrozarb]

What do you expect from those who hide data breaches from their users?

[@FJB2020]

NordVPN should be avoided at all costs

[@HomeofLawboy]

Though still incredibly creepy, I can absolutely see Tom's mannerisms while speaking. The biggest thing missing for me is that Tom speaks with his hands a lot, so the robot seemed like it was tied down.

[@KyurekiHana]

Well, that and lip muscles. And a tongue. It was really creepy to me with just jaw movements.

[@davidm5707]

@@KyurekiHana The lower lip not being articulated took me out of the moment. And the creepy upper eyelids.

[@jlammetje]

@@davidm5707 oh my gosh, the creepy eyelids!

[@jctoad]

The bust is just stationary. No movement in the upper body. No breathing.

[@thesoundsmith]

What spoiled it for me was the lip sync. No 'oo' or 'sss' mouthing and slightly behind. But for a quick mock mock-up, well done.

[@Shamrock013]

I just found your videos a few months ago or so, and I have to say, you're a very fun guy and I appreciate all you do and have done over the years.

[@achkind6067]

I like how this is insanely science-fiction stuff, but then they just connect it via USB

[@Cruxador]

USB is a good format

[@benjaminRhodesLEGO]

wait am i that old that USB dosent feel futuristic anymore?? D:

[@howardsternisbatman]

Haven't you seen ID4?

[@AnnNymos]

@@howardsternisbatman I haven't wtf is that

[@benjaminRhodesLEGO]

@@howardsternisbatman NO

[@brandoncampbell9794]

I think one of the biggest aspects keeping human analogs from being believable isn't always the imperfections of appearance but how they move. They are always too slow and smooth. If you pay attention to how people move we make a lot of really jerky fast movements quite often. Working on faster movements is going to make a huge difference in getting these to feel like people.

[@rattyeely]

They actually really struggle with jerky movements because for robots like these it can cause the whole thing to shake/fall over

[@BirdmanDeuce26]

For me, compensatory movements (their lack, specifically) play a significant role as well - in real life, humans can't move a part of themselves without an equivalent compensating motion occurring elsewhere in their body. It's how the Boston Dynamics robots look "lifelike" without looking anything like real creatures - because they move how we expect something with legs to move, balancing and all

[@davidc9441]

As a puppeteer I can agree with that. It can be over done for effect (think muppets), but there is a jerk to the movement of real creatures, even humans.

[@studyinchina4139]

Just give some more time to machine learning algorithms

[@icchorist]

And maybe what tom mentioned about the eye contact. Maybe put more focus on making the eyes feel real and the eye contact you make with it will make the robot seem "real"

[@PureOctarine]

Robot company says "Come look at our robots". Tom "Sorry that's not enough for one of my videos". Also Tom: flails around on a bike for a video

[@wordzmyth]

😄 you're not wrong

[@Zogerpogger]

I love how everyone who upvoted (except Annora) just said "yep." (liked it) and moved on.

[@DogNamedWatson]

That was Tom Scott Plus though

[@bergonius]

Bikes are important

[@sharktacos]

Machinarium pfp 😈

[@TheOriginalCoolDad]

Amazing and highly disturbing, all at the same time.

[@justyourfriendlyneighborho903]

This video has given me even more proof of Zuckerberg being a robot

[@Waverlyw]

I thought that, too!

[@graciew3199]

For real its crazy

[@jewels3895]

Same

[@nicholasbstone]

Zuckerborg!

[@Serendipity-gj2me]

Definitely!

[@tsurugizaki]

I'm glad Tom managed to come up with a good excuse for making a robot double.

[@ripp_]

Good guy Tom, only person to do the sponsor read to point out that services might actually not allow you to use VPN to avoid region locking, unlike others who, I must assume are told to, push the names of services you could use it on, most of which disallow it.

[@yolo-sy6zl]

Actually I think it's just to avoid legal liability...

[@acdeeiprrt]

Disallow as in block VPN connections, or as in they say you shouldn't do it

[@zacharylowe8083]

Linus Tech Tips has actually brought this up a few times and how they do it

[@tenkdkme]

@@acdeeiprrt Disallow as in they could sue you if you do use one.

[@Sukigu]

@@tenkdkme No, they can't sue you. At most they can terminate your account because it's against their terms of service.

[@caseyhamm4292]

this has huge potential for filming i feel like. from behind they’re indistinguishable, and it’s really the eyes that give it away to me

[@AnimatedStoriesWorldwide]

You just know that even at the robot factory of the future, they had to make two take for that USB plugging to be smooth.

[@silverclouds3725]

Now THAT is a fact!!! Lololol

[@BibleStorm]

Movie magic.

[@CosRacecar]

3 takes*

[@bern1e74]

😂😂

[@mikedoragh746]

@@CosRacecar Yup... always 3 takes!

[@Cyranek]

five nights at tom scott's

[@hwebsite4720]

Someone has got to make it real!

[@colinfurze]

And it will not stop……

[@FJB2020]

Get back to digging!

[@bmxkelowna]

We need a new flatland video!

[@jonathantunnell3993]

Back to the tunnel mate

[@AetharWolf]

Other than the eyes, when its not talking it looks really good, im exited for the future of robots.

[@danikivanik8283]

It will be the end of humans

[@NathanielHall]

Best way to sellout 👏 well done!

[@owRekssjfjxjxuurrpqpqss]

I wonder if we will ever get past the uncanny valley with robots. It seems like realistic ones will always be incredibly creepy

[@wintrparkgrl]

I have no doubt we will, but the ones that do will probably be designed by AIs

[@aDifferentJT]

We wondered that about CGI, but in the last few years it’s finally happened.

[@icannotthinkofaname6248]

@@aDifferentJT cgi is much different than replicating human motion tho

[@deathpony698]

I think the blue one looks really good, maybe casue its not trying to be an actual person

[@tuvoca825]

When the mechanisms are more similar, the action will be too.

[@Amonimus]

Finally, a personal Tom Scott anyone can use. To be honest, I still see bad VPN sponsors.

[@ejajafrozarb]

Mainstream VPNs are government honeypots and lie about deleting user data. If you see an advertisement of the vpn you are using, change it immediately

[@splutteryelm]

What do you mean by "use"?

[@bubbsterr4967]

@@splutteryelm 🤨

[@markusTegelane]

@@bubbsterr4967 ab~use~

[@peterlewis2178]

@@ThisIsTheBestAnime I mean, I've personally experienced NordVPN throw a wrench in Facebook's profile on me, so maybe it won't 100% stop it, but it definitely does help.

[@CPCS]

I love how someone actually writes captions, thanks!

[@Ilander86]

I'm guessing they have size limitations currently, so they can't just enlarge or shrink the head to match the person. That's perfectly understandable. But it's a very good likeness! The tech in this thing is really amazing!

[@MichaelMoore99]

I would assume enlarging is easy enough, if time-consuming, but there's probably a lower limit on size, yes.

[@Lifesizemortal]

I gotta say though, androids are an antequated idea and we should not be pursuing human likeness in robots. It makes humans and robots less special as a result of this dreadful likeness.

[@kittymama9186]

I agree, its probably a base stock model frame that they reworked Tom's face template to fit.

[@MinecraftTestSquad]

Definitely works better at a distance, but extremely impressive regardless. The up close shot was chilling...

[@technoandrew]

When the robot wakes up at 8:17 is scarily the most realistic and convincing part.

[@mzaite]

The Blinking was really good. They worked on that you can tell.

[@stonelion99]

It genuinely frightened me.

[@soundscape26]

Yes, the best was saved for last.

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

Tom meeting his robot double: Now that I've found you! We can be a duo! That's right! Twice the evil, double Scottenshmirtz! Coming at you, *MONDAYS!* Uncanny. Love these people who pick apart every little thing. Personally, I'm amazed.

[@NFSHeld]

I think what really makes this robot feel uncanny is three things: 1. Speaking is more than jaw movement, and facial expressions require more than 10 actuators. 2. It looks like it's fighting narcolepsy. 3. Human motion is not linear or sine-wavey. But stepper motors often are.

[@airplanes_aren.t_real]

The movements don't follow the basic principles of animation so they don't feel human

[@AdeonHawkwood]

That must have been an interesting pitch meeting at Nord. "What's this line item for?" "We're paying to build a robot double of a KZbinr to do an advertisement."

[@Norsilca]

"..yes, it's the same KZbinr who did the famous takedown of VPN ads, why?"

[@Foxinthetree]

Love the diversity of videos. Was not expecting robot doubles in a million years

[@imyourmaster77]

Fun fact, Disney is testing a literal robotic stunt double for spiderman.

[@qi5vy]

I can't believe how much humanoid robot technology has evolved over the past decade. Almost terrifying, even. When I was a kid I didn't think this would be possible.. amazing video!

[@thriller2910]

There was a brief moment at the end where my brain vaguely felt like Tom Bott was alive and didn't want to be shut down, and that was properly terrifying

[@ChrisBigBad]

Play "Detroit: become human" if you liked that feeling.

[@thriller2910]

@@ChrisBigBad I did, I thoroughly enjoyed the bit with Chloe, although I felt Marcus' plotline was a bit pretentious.

[@luchirimoya]

@@thriller2910 agreed, Markus' story did feel a bit pretentious. I think Connor was the best part of the game, and Chloe's bits in the main menu were really interesting as well

[@Juggernogger64]

Robots don't understand death

[@Add_Infinitum]

The latest gen robot is amazingly realistic, when it was just sitting there I wasn't getting any of that uncanny valley feeling. The second gen that tom used is close (though the eyelids push it over the edge) as long as it doesn't move, but when it starts talking it gets substantially creepier. Same with the Amica actually. It's fine as long as it doesn't try to mimic expressions, it just has that constant look of poorly hidden disdain, but as soon as it moves it's face to make a new expression you can tell that somethings wrong. I wonder how they'll eventually manage to mimic all the many many muscles in our faces.

[@ihopeicanchangethisnamelat7108]

If I ever write something involving robots, can I use the specific wording of ‘constant look of poorly hidden disdain’ please?

[@illuminate4622]

@@dekjet Piezoelectrics.

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

I think the real mark of an accurate robot will be when it can mimic mouth movements when speaking. The linguistic knowledge is there, so it's a question of how to recreate the muscles.

[@amsyarzero]

For me, the weirdest thing about the robot is that when it's talking, the mouth moves exactly like how anime characters talk: just up and down.

[@brrrrrr]

Good thing anime characters are 2D and aren't too detailed on the mouth

[@molotera8789]

I think it also got those poorly drawn anime eyes you see on how to draw anime books

[@kuroblakka]

8:06 You made him sing Daisy Daisy. The attention to detail, I love it

[@sammy4651]

I strongly believe that companies that make humanoids could really benefit from hiring makeup artists to give their appearance that extra edge

[@cybervigilante]

Train now to be a robo-cosmetician. There's a big future in it!

[@orppranator5230]

They most likely already employ makeup artists.

[@notAshildr]

There is no way they do not employ VFX technicians that also work in movies/as model builders. The job profile remains the same, whether you're making silicone masks for a movie or a robotics company.

[@we4r119]

Good point about the MUA. I was thinking that myself.

[@Chicken.]

Makeup takes away flaws though, unless someone normally wears makeup it wouldn't make sense.

[@AmiYamato]

I disapprove of artificial characters replacing KZbinrs.

[@glumbortango7182]

You would know, wouldn't you

[@PerspectiveEngineer]

You're just jealous.

[@TheCardboardB_andit33]

who asked

[@ZipplyZane]

I just wanted to let you know that I appreciate all the work you do to not seem uncanny. That is my issue with vTubers, especially in 3D. I'm sure it's a lot more work, doing things manually. When the day comes that you can be a vTuber and people can't tell, we'll have arrived.

[@harith_the_struggler]

You're cool

[@Blonctron]

The only ad read I haven't skipped in years

[@Maceattac]

This is the ONLY ad for NordVPN, Raid, or ANY big youtuber sponserer that I will ever watch fully

[@kieranczyzyk9064]

with that really articulated robot, my brain went "oh hey it's someone's 3D cgi animation!" but then I jolted when I recognized it existed IN an actual 3 D space!! I wonder if there will ever be a time where, like, pre-existing 3D animations from film and video games could be exported to these models? wild!

[@paulholleger8538]

You should see some of the animatronic displays they put in theme parks like Disney then! There's a really well-done animatronic of Rocket Racoon in their GotG ride, and there's some high-quality videos here on KZbin about it. So... it's already being done!

[@synergous571]

it looked like a cutscene from a game

[@luciolisdkprod]

Yes they do. And you can motion-capture real humans as well.

[@aadkinsl3095]

This is besides the point but I love that Tom acknowledged his role in changing VPN ads. His impact!

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

Great to see some continuity between videos.

[@hairglowingkyle4572]

Tom Scott lore

[@codex3693]

this is so funny, you can tell they just slapped a half baked sculpt on a head which doesn't fit his head shape, but still cool. kinda wish they had gone all out like their other bots but that prob wasn't in the budget

[@seanriokifarrell]

Yea... Also I am quite disappointed that they did not do some form of mocap. But then again, it was probably, "how much can you do for X" and that was it.

[@marcusvlogsfanaccount3129]

At 7:00 Tom gets in screen and at that part the robot looked even more real to me. It just looked at Tom and looked back at the camera and noded like he agrees with Tom about vpn's.

[@samtherat6]

It looked most realistic when the “human” Tom Scott popped his head in the frame and it was in my peripheral vision.

[@zachzimmermann5209]

It was really the corners of the eyes that stood out to me.

[@NaudVanDalen]

I love the part where the robot is programmed to seem scared that it's getting turned off and scrambles to talk about NordVPN more.

[@SuperVoodude]

Yes... "seem" scared...

[@m8sonmiller]

Daisy... Daisy...

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

10/10 acting from the robot.

[@andystealth88]

I am both grateful and disappointed that when it perked back up the eyes weren't looking directly into the camera

[@parchedbowser]

The 2001: A Space odyessy reference was hilarious, but that head turn at the end scared the hell out of me.

[@BlindingWulf]

I love 2001: A Space Odyssey

[@ChristopherHallett]

I was waiting for it to wake back up and make angry faces, but instead it woke up and looked very mildly disinterested.

[@joesterling4299]

To me, it looked more like a return to default position after the program ended.

[@AnOrbitalCat]

@@joesterling4299 that's what Tom Bott wants you to think

[@brightmoor]

The 2001 reference was perfect. 👏

[@curtiskemmerle8870]

At the end, I love the nod at the end to Stanly Kubrik's '2001: A Space Odyssey' with the reference to "Daisy Daisy"

[@kenet7877]

That ending when the robot wakes up again is... So brilliant yet so... Terrifying

[@14thsmeghead]

Comforting to know that we're apparently still quite a ways off from robots being able to fool us.

[@zebedeesummers4413]

while I agree this was also likely on quite a budget

[@milkymoocowmoo]

@@zebedeesummers4413 you'd hope so because this looked about as convincing as the 30+yo practical effects in The Terminator

[@The_Art_Style]

Mmmm I wouldn't be so confident mate the speed at which robotics is improving is accelerating quickly, personally, I'm scared

[@ThePCguy17]

That's what they want you to think...

[@emilalbu]

or maybe it's just their way of making us believe they cannot fool us ;) maybe even Tom is a robot

[@noneofyourbeeswax01]

The weird thing is that Ameca looks more human than Mesmer - despite being very obviously a robot

[@FairbrookWingates]

It's the natural facial movements and higher degree of expressiveness, I believe. But either way, I fully agree with you. Ameca was fun to watch.

[@blackmber]

I feel like it helps when it’s a mere representation of a human and not attempting to be an exact replica, like the obviously disproportionate characters in animated films. That way our attention is drawn to the most human aspects, instead of the least.

[@thatman8562]

I think that’s for the same reason why we’ve been moving away from making prosthetics lifelike in appearance, in favor of obvious robotic prosthetics.

[@WdyWP]

nice touch with the 2001 outro!!!

[@dash3995]

I think the biggest improvement to this technology would be lip movement, without lip movement it still looks plastic

[@MrJJandJim]

And the eyelids

[@vladomaimun]

Yes, it seems their actuators respond too slowly to move the lips as quickly as they do when a person is talking

[@sauvanto9316]

Wrinkles in the skin are really missing, you can see how much stiffness there is in the silicone

[@vysharra]

There are puppets with screens for the mouth for real-time performances (either voicing or syncing performances) but it still hits the uncanny valley really hard. The whole “real” thing will always be too weird, it seems, due to the just crazy amount of detail human brains see in human (or human-like) faces. I think leaning hard into lifelike fantasy is the only way to avoid it. Henson-style puppets have been successfully avoiding the uncanny valley for decades for just that reason.

[@clivemitchell3229]

May have been less uncanny with a facemask. And dark glasses...

[@urielnnn2442]

It feels like other than for movement, if they can master how to make the eyelids and eye look more realistic then it’ll be terrifyingly realistic

[@sourcererseven3858]

Eyeballs themselves shouldn't be a problem. Glass eye manufacturers are masters at making the artificial eye look perfectly natural, imperfections included, except it's not moving.

[@sirk603]

@@sourcererseven3858 personally I think the eyes themselves look fine, but the area around the eyes looks so wrong. The eyelids look so weird

[@cyrkielnetwork]

Eyelids and lips are the biggest problems in this robot

[@smsmsmsmsmsm]

Good point tbh

[@enigmabodylanguage]

Everyone's cool until the robot starts singing Daisy.

[@wheepee]

verified

[@Minato_Akiyama03]

Everyone is cool until someone makes Hitl-

[@anticorncob6]

I don't get it.

[@mikespearwood3914]

@@anticorncob6 I think it's a reference to HAL 9000 (2001: A Space Odyssey).

[@superstriker412]

That was a really cool reference, very clever

[@rabiussanyapu]

This is next level advertisement

[@narnigrin]

1. The whole section where Tom meets the robot and is weirded out and his prepared lines go out the window is GOLD. 2. Almost a good thing nobody at this company is a successful KZbinr, because this video is more Tom Scott Plus than any video I've seen so far on Tom Scott Plus.

[@JosephDavies]

Tom Scott Plus Tom Scott.

[@gfixler]

I've wanted a robot double my whole life, right up until 30 seconds ago.

[@raven4k998]

oh common you can have one just take the plunge and buy one🤣🤣🤣

[@eldrago19]

For the first time, I've been able to listen to a VPN ad without wincing at any inaccuracies. Robot Tom Scott knows more than the average human.

[@mousetreat]

Tom Scottbot* ;-)

[@Damian_1989]

Tom Bott

[@TMW_DragonixX]

so normally i skip the adverts but this one this one is very unique

[@AndreSomers]

It has to be said, but kudos to Nord VPN for going along with this one! Shows a sense of humor I think.

[@bitonic589]

Nord VPN is literally the worst VPN

[@Flimzes]

@@bitonic589 would you like to elaborate on this claim?

[@rasamalai]

@@bitonic589 Yeh, I'd also like to know since, if I ever needed one I might have gone for that one, based on this video's advertisement, as opposed to EVERYTHING else that tries to advertise where I don't appreciate it, and thus avoid like the plague.

[@DaRealOriginal]

@@Flimzes I used to use NordVPN and they had trouble connecting in multiple locations (my workplaces, and sometimes at home depending on the day) as well as streaming providers like Netflix and Prime Video detecting a VPN connection and refusing service, but I switched to ExpressVPN a few years back and to this day I have not had an issue. I can watch whatever I want, wherever I want, and it always works, PC or phone. It also allows up to 5 simultaneous connections so you could have it on your own devices or share with a friend on your account. Not sure how Nord handles that aspect though.

[@Holgast]

@@DaRealOriginal The problem with Netflix etc. is they occasionally go through and blacklist known VPN servers. The last time I used Nord (years ago), I had this problem too, but eventually found one node that worked. Express is probably swapping servers a lot, or doing something their end to get around this.

[@whanowa]

"I need your red T-Shirt, your grey sweater and your E-Scooter." - The Tominator

[@DestructivelyPhased]

In the shot at 4:45 it’s truly amazing how far the technology has come. The one on the right looks so life-like, it’s hard to tell that its the robot.

[@generallyunimportant]

lmao

[@SailingFrolic]

This was amazing. Truly a leap in technology to see a robot version of you. It was quite uncanny

[@erinpennington19]

GOD I both hate and am impressed with how Robot Tom seems to listen to Tom when he interjects and then nods and continues as if processing his interruption

[@joebenzz]

It's so strange that in every aspect of a creation based activity that is Art, 3D and Robotics, there is this inherent need for recreating every aspect of a human being, every single time.

[@dave_h_8742]

I'd much prefer a robot to look like a robot.

[@nqrtzy8765]

Because there’s nothing quite like humans. There’s also nothing we see more often than humans, or at the very least, one specific human. Kinda makes sense how we always want to recreate ourselves.

[@zakmartin]

@@dave_h_8742 And what does a robot look like?

[@dave_h_8742]

@@zakmartin A robot like Cryton off Red Dwarf with their added attachments

[@charlesludwig8672]

We all wish to create in our own image

[@brandonmartin-moore5302]

The way the scalp lifts off to expose the wires inside is so Terminator.

[@matthew-Williams]

Surly you mean Tominator.

[@physicalnova2965]

@@matthew-Williams Hehe, nice one there !

[@SebastianJVW]

"See all that stuff in there, Homer? That's why your robot never worked."

[@Ricksta101]

That ad gave me shivers. So bizarre but entertaining.

[@steveb0503]

The "Daisy, daisy..." part about killed me. Good stuff Tom!

[@davidpalmer9780]

...and the significance of Daisy...? Do you know?

[@noncompliant4316]

@@davidpalmer9780 2001 Hal 9000

[@davidpalmer9780]

@@noncompliant4316 Yes... the song 'Daisy Bell' was the earliest demonstration of computer speech synthesise back in 1961 and is sung by HAL as it regresses whist Bowman progressively shuts HAL down.

[@JD2jr.]

I got that "person" moment at the very end. When it's making eye contact with you (the camera), you can see the "dead eyes" effect. but at the end, it looks up and away, and it totally looks real.

[@1996Pinocchio]

I'm glad we're not over the uncanny vally with humanoid robots yet in real life. Imagine not even being able to tell whether someone you're interacting with is a robot or a human.

[@Xomage999]

I, a human who breathes air, agree with you.

[@theanyktos]

Welcome to the internet, where that's already the reality.

[@arandomsupra]

As a human who is definitely not a car, I agree

[@joelavrunin347]

How do you know that you aren't a robot?

[@jonpatchmodular]

That is true fellow human. I will remember this when I'm partaking in Watering the Plants, Enjoy burger, Pay the bills, Sleep,.

[@MetalArcade]

when it came back to life at the end it sent a shiver up my spine