The Viral Robot Video That’s Freaking Everyone Out Is Totally Fake

The Viral Robot Video That’s Freaking Everyone Out Is Totally Fake

Have you seen that video of a very human-looking robot walking up a driveway? It’s gotten a lot of people online freaked out about the coming robot apocalypse. But you can rest easy… for now. This “robot” was created using computer graphics. As in, it’s totally fake.

The video was created using the Unity video game and animation engine, though it isn’t immediately clear who can claim credit for this particular render. A designer named Maxim Sullivan appears to have been the first to upload this video to Twitter, though he has not yet responded to a request for comment from Gizmodo.

A version of the animated character previously appeared in a web series created by District 9 director Neill Blomkamp and Oats Studios using the Unity engine. Before that, however, the (free-to-download) robot model was made by Unity’s Swedish demo team for the short film Adam. You can watch a behind-the-scenes video for Blomkamp’s series on YouTube, but it doesn’t appear that he created this specific animation of a robot in a driveway.

Robots are indeed becoming more agile with each passing day. Boston Dynamics is perhaps the most famous of the Skynet summoners, with robots that can run, open doors and even do back flips. But at least the robots of Boston Dynamics aren’t eating people.

Yet.


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