Huitong humanoid robot  Apparently China didn't get that whole
"Robots for modern warfare" memo that circulated a while back,
and have instead put their efforts into a robot capable of the
ancient arts of swordplay, shadow boxing, talking to people and
standing up. The 5-foot, 139 pound humanoid "Huitong" seems to
be the result of China jonesing for the humanoid innovation
taking place in Japan, and was unveiled by The Chinese Ministry
of Science and Technology in Beijing this week. Huitong has
vision and auditory capabilities and is designed to be able to
imitate complex human actions, though we're not quite sure where
he picked up a penchant for saber whirling. China might be on to
something here; if robots are ever going to overthrow their
human masters, they best be doing it with style. There can be
only one. Ahem.  [Via GoRobotics]   China's "Huitong" robot does
swordplay