The breakthrough that makes robot faces feel less creepy

Humans pay enormous attention to lips during conversation, and robots have struggled badly to keep up. A new robot developed at Columbia Engineering learned realistic lip movements by watching its own reflection and studying human videos online. This allowed it to speak and sing with synchronized facial motion, without being explicitly programmed. Researchers believe this breakthrough could help robots finally cross the uncanny valley.

source https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/01/260116035308.htm