Igor Mordatch , a robotics post - doctorate student at University of California , has developed a small robot , called Darwin , that can act just like a human child would . Mordatch has worked on the robot for two years with a computer system that simulates how a robot might behave in certain situations . The system is a combination of neural networks and computer algorithms which are moulded together like the structure of the human brain . (Quartz has asked Boston Dynamics to confirm this; when the robots were used at this summer’s DARPA Robotics Challenge, they were only semi-autonomous, sometimes remotely controlled by humans.) Mordatch 's goal is to have Darwin walking around on his own by January . Mordatch also decided to shape Darwin like a human since we live in an environment where human - like beings thrive .
Igor Mordatch , a robotics post - doctorate student at University of California , has developed a small robot , called Darwin , that can act just like a human child would . Mordatch has worked on the robot for two years with a computer system that simulates how a robot might behave in certain situations . The system is a combination of neural networks and computer algorithms which are moulded together like the structure of the human brain . Mordatch 's goal is to have Darwin walking around on his own by January . Mordatch also decided to shape Darwin like a human since we live in an environment where human - like beings thrive .