Humanoid robot unveiled at Beijing conference

"Yangyang," a humanoid robot with a variety of realistic expressions wows visitors at Beijing's Global Mobile Internet Conference.

The robot is modeled on one of the researchers who helped develop the technology. She can blink, smile, shake hands and even hug her human doppelganger. Yangyang is the fourth robot produced by Shanghai Shenqing Industry.

The robots are controlled remotely and are made of a special type of silica gel that feels like human skin.

Researcher Song Yang saying (Mandarin): "This is the first one inside China. At present this robot has the most features, she has 43 degrees of freedom across her whole body, most of them are concentrated on the face, because of this, her expressions can be very varied."

The team behind Yangyang believe future robots like her could be used as sales assistants, or body doubles for celebrities. One of the researchers has already used his body double to deliver lectures on his behalf. But the robot isn't foolproof, it couldn't answer any of the student's questions.