Japanese scientists have unveiled the most human-looking robot yet devised –a “female” android called Repliee Q1.

She has flexible silicone for skin, a number of sensors, and 31 actuators to allow her to turn and react in a human-like manner, which can programmed by a human wearing motion sensors.

She can flutter her eyelids and move her hands like a human. She even appears to breathe.

Professor Hiroshi Ishiguru of Osaka University believes that it may prove possible to build an android that could pass for a human, if only for minutes. “We have found that people forget she is an android while interacting with her.”