Professor Owen Holland of the University of Sussex has built the world's first anthropomimetic robot, with a skeletal structure and movements that mimic the human body. It's called ECCEROBOT, and it has artificial versions of human bones, muscles and tendons.

Holland and his team believe that artificial intelligence can't truly exist without an artificial body that informs a robot's brain. Of course, getting the brain to control that body is an entirely different challenge.

They explain their work on ECCEROBOT, and how it could help advance AI research, on a BBC special called Horizon: The Hunt for AI, which airs tonight.

A clip is already up on the BBC website.

[popsci / bbc]