My robot double sells out (so I don't have to)

I haven't been able to do VPN advertising for a long time. Well, this one time, I don't have to: because the robot double's going to do it for me.

With many thanks to all the team at Engineered Arts who worked on this. To be clear, this is not sponsored by them, I paid money (technically, NordVPN's money) for the Mesmer robot -- or at least, for the silicone mask and 3D printed skull that were put together for just one day!

(you can find contact details and social links there too)

[TomScottGo]

Don't worry, the robot double has been fully decommissioned. It is absolutely not writing this comment instead of actual Tom.

[userSchlonsch]

This was just Tom Scott presenting us the old prototype version of himself.
Turns out he’s actually been Tom Bot all along

[logicaleman]

The fact that there are moments where the robot briefly leaves the uncanny valley and registers as a "human" is more terrifying than just the regular "uncanny valley" robots

[hayond]

When the Robot is talking you can clearly tell how "bad" the mouth movement is

But when Actual Tom interrupts the Robot looks more genuinely annoyed that someone is cutting in

[goodboi]

Tom Bott's expressions when interrupted by Tom Scott are absolutely priceless.

[tparadox_]

Tom Scott: "please nobody Deepfake me."

Also Tom Scott:"could you guys build a robot likeness of me to do my ad reads for me?"

[hobie]

I think one of the big issues with humanoid robots is we don’t just speak with our jaw. We speak with our jaw, tongue, and lips. No robot has all of those moving at the same time, or they just don’t get it right. Until then, ultra realistic humanoid robots will just be flat out creepy.

[Rurumeto]

Those... cold... dead... eyes...

They did a really good job of replicating that with the robot!

[danielduggan]

The robot coming back to life and just staring at the end... bone-chilling

[djcsdy]

Tom Scott is the only person in the world who could find a way to make me voluntarily watch an advert. Well played!

[JPTQJR]

The absolute madlad requested a robot version of himself just to get his NordVPN sponsorship back

[jademonas]

if they made the eyelids actually connected, it would have been 47% more human

[NaudVanDalen]

Robot: "What is my purpose?"
Tom: "You do sponsorships."
Robot: "Oh my God!"

[S_O_O_C]

Tom meeting his robot felt like a twist on a horror movie, truly unearths undiscovered emotions

[dilandduck]

7:00
The way the robot moved, looked to the side and then nodded in agreement with Tom was just
Incredible, that was the most realistic and natural thing it did

[YochevedDesigns]

Tom's reactions are solid gold! If they work on the eyelids and mouth more, they'll have it nailed. The bot was having trouble with the "O" shape of the lips. I lipread a lot, and when it said "Nord" it looked to me like it was saying "nerd". They should have some deaf people come in and help work on the facial movements.

[biharek]

The fact that a VPN company actually reached to Tom is even more surprising than the fact that the advert was presented by a robot

[AnimeFan-wdpq]

The replica of Tom Scott is honestly amazing. Although the human motions still need a bit of tweaking, the fact that someone that isn’t looking hard enough would be fooled is quite amazing enough.

[MegaLag]

This is by far the best sponsorship integration I have ever seen 👏🏼
Great video, Tom!

[rainestorm]

Did anyone else get really bad chills at the end when the robot re-wakes up?