An Italian research team is in the frontline of a new, all-European project developing life-like robots.
The project, which gets under way on February 2, will closely study the neuromuscular structures and mechanisms of humans in order to work out what motor capacities should be incorporated into robots.
The robots will not only look like human beings, they will also move like them and, crucially, will be able to adapt their movements to different environment they encounter.
''Unlike existing robots resembling human beings, these will not be rigidly programmed,'' explained Professor Antonio Bicchi of Pisa University's Enrico Piaggo Centre.
''Instead they will be designed in a way that allows them to continually and quickly adapt their movements, very much in the way humans do''.
The Enrico Piaggo Centre, the Genoa-based Italian Institute of Technology and the German Space Agency's Robotics Laboratory are coordinating the project.
Entitled Viactors (variable impedance actuation systems embodying advanced interaction behavours), it will involve dozens of laboratories and universities across Europe.
