A humanoid robot possessing all-too-human muscles and movements has exploded into terror and fascination across social media. The viral video showing video montages of ‘Protoclone’ developed by Clone Robotics has already garnered over 32 million hits on X, where many users have called it “dystopian.”

Hyper-Realistic Android

By Clone Robotics, the Protoclone robot was unveiled, a human-like robot built to replicate human anatomy with artificial muscles, tendons, and joints. In this video, it was shown that the bipedal robot was holding itself mid-air with stiff arms and twitched and creepily bent its elbows and knees. While the company hailed this feat, the response on social media was not so positive.

‘Protoclone’ Robot

‘Protoclone’ is made to work inside the house, washing dishes, doing laundry, vacuum cleaning, and perhaps going so far as preparing a meal. The robot could work within a room by way of a manual Telekinesis training platform, allowing it to learn new things. The android resembles human movement in distressingly lifelike ways with the 206 polymer bones, ligament-connected joints, and artificial myofiber muscles. Instead of blood, water pushes through it to articulate its movements; its eyes are given four depth cameras, which feed it input.

While humanoid robotics seems to be expanding at a very fast pace, companies such as Tesla, Boston Dynamics, and Meta are also working on similar projects. Such projects include Tesla’s Optimus, which will deal with chores in households and likewise care.

In turn, Bernt Børnich, 1X CEO, sees a future where humanoids become a mainstay in households. “The day we will have humanoids taking your laundry at home is closer than people think. I mean, both in access and price comparable to an affordably priced car.” While some have praised it as revolutionary, others are arguing otherwise.