Making humanoid robots that can stretch and sweat

LOS ANGELES - A team of Japanese engineers has designed robots that can perform pushups, do crunches, stretch and even sweat while doing so.

The robots Kengoro and Kenshiro, described in the journal Science Robotics, can perform remarkably humanlike movements - and could serve as a model to help scientists design better crash dummies and prosthetic limbs, and to better understand the moving human body's mysterious inner workings.

Researchers have been developing humanoid robots for years, each becoming more advanced than the last - but there are still a number of kinks to work out, the study authors write.