Animatronic baby, including servos and cantilevers; with ‘mac mini’ desktop computer; power control box; and switch mode power supply, by John Nolan, Stoke Newington, London, England, 2016. The Science Museum commissioned John Nolan to produce the displayed Animatronic baby specially for the Science Museum: Robots 1 exhibition.

Coming face to face with a mechanical human is a disconcerting experience. It always has been. This baby is a film double. It makes only pre-programmed movements and has no intelligence. Yet we feel strong emotions, to protect it or even be repelled by it. Imagine, then, the reaction of our fellow humans over the centuries, as each new wave of technology heralded its own curiosity-inducing robots.

This robotic baby was commissioned from John Nolan, London animatronic expert, to be the first exhibit in the Science Museum's 2017 'Robots' exhibition. John has constructed a number of animatronic babies for use in films and TV programmes. they are usually controlled by puppeteers. However, it was felt that if the entire baby could be automated, and the mechanism made prominent behind the life-like baby, it would speak powerfully to the uncanny nature of many humanoid robots and un-nerve those who saw it - on the one hand appealing to their maternal or paternal instincts and on the other leaving them with a deep sense of unease at having strong emotions about something which is ultimately a combination of high precision engineering and programming.