This robo-seal shoots hoops: Welcome to the Uncanny Animal Valley

This is not just a robot seal. This seal shoots mini basketballs out of its mouth. “If there’s an Uncanny Valley of animals, this is it,” writes iEEE editor Erico Guizzo in an email to me this week. Using a robotic gripper, the seal, which is little more than a stuffed animal, shoots hoops 3 meters away with 99% accuracy, according to its Taiwanese creators at the National Chiao-Tung University.

Watch the video of the crazy robot seal here.

Story by Courtney Boyd Myers

Courtney Boyd Myers is the founder of audience.io, a transatlantic company designed to help New York and London based technology startups gr (show all) Courtney Boyd Myers is the founder of audience.io, a transatlantic company designed to help New York and London based technology startups grow internationally. Previously, she was the Features Editor and East Coast Editor of TNW covering New York City startups and digital innovation. She loves magnets + reading on a Kindle. You can follow her on Facebook, Twitter @CBM and Google +.