DAUNTING footage has captured a chilling humanoid robot come to real life, stoking fears it could soon replace humans at top factories.
The AI bot, dubbed Figure 02, is said to be the most advanced robot that has been developed yet.
Automotive giant BMW has been testing the sinister-looking new humanoid robot in a high-tech plant in the USA.
Eerie footage from the factory in South Carolina shows the robot being powered up as it begins a series of tests, recreating conditions in a real-life factory.
The test model moves its arms and hands to boast its superhuman flexibility - and goes on to take a tour of the factory.
As it walks to a workstation it passes other similar bots who are all busy assembling different car parts.
more unique robots
The robot has been designed to work side by side with human workers on real-life production lines.
But its superhuman abilities spark fears about how it could one day outpace humans in such working environments.
Its incredibly flexible wrists and fingers, with 16 degrees of freedom, can maneuver parts into millimeter-perfect positions that human joints could never manage.
And even if it makes a mistake its state-of-the-art AI makes sure it corrects it and never repeats it.
It boasts three times the processing power of an earlier model, enhanced voice communication, better cameras, mics, and sensors plus a high-performance battery.
Figure 02's hands mimic human strength, enabling it to manage intricate tasks with surgical precision.
It can pick up objects as heavy as 55 lbs, coordinate both of its hands, put parts in place accurately, and walk dynamically, says the car maker.
The BMW footage shows it making a deliberate error and adapting so it can fix it on the spot and not hold up the line.
The bot has been developed by California-based tech hub Figure, a $ 2 billion startup that has been backed by giants like Jeff Bezos, Nvidia, Microsoft, and OpenAI.
Benedikt Torka, a BMW spokesperson, said: "The robot is capable of fully autonomous execution of human-like and two-handed tasks requiring varied and dynamic manipulation, complex grasping, and coordination of both hands in unison."
The company is now evaluating how it can be used safely in car production, he added.
Milan Nedeljkovic, one of the board members of the company, said: "The developments in the field of robotics are very promising.
"With an early test operation, we are now determining possible applications for humanoid robots in production.
"We want to accompany this technology from development to industrialization."
Not everyone is a fan of this move by BMW, as some are concerned that robots will take over human jobs.
Michael Walsh from Nerdist said BMW's bots look like a "sci-fi disaster come to life," though didn't expand much on why.
Still, BMW is hardly the first company, and certainly won't be the last, to employ robots in the workplace.
Tesla's Optimus bot is another prime example of the technology quickly coming around.
It comes after a Chinese carmaker released chilling footage of an AI robot making sure cars are safe to drive inside its factory.
The humanoid can be seen conducting safety checks in place of humans as part of Dongfeng Motor's manufacturing process.