This robot's odd behavior is controlled by a neural network

Alter is a robot made by Takashi Ikegami (University of Tokyo) that moves in a eerily lifelike way. It’s behavior doesn’t seem very human, but it is more alive than the typical Disney animatronic android.

From Engadget:

The theory behind the CPG is based on one of the simplest artificial models for neurons, the Izhikevich neuron, which reacts in a way that’s called “spiking and burst behavior”: Something builds up, and the robot’s system creates a signal spike, which chains together with other neurons. Professor Ikeue from Tokyo University describes the central pattern generator as “coupled pendulums” — one bumps into another into another and a movement in formed. While not an equal, balanced rhythm, this becomes Alter’s own rhythm. The researchers didn’t make the movement; the robot made it itself.