Chicago, June 25 (Reuters): Meet the robot lobster and the android that not only smiles, frowns and blinks but also recognises people and talks back.

They’re two of the spookier entries at Wired magazine’s annual “NextFest,” the high-tech carnival at a Chicago convention hall this weekend showcasing futuristic, sometimes uncannily lifelike technology.

“The difference between animals and robots is robots get stuck while animals squirm their way through,” said inventor-engineer Joseph Ayers of Boston’s Northeastern University.

His robo-lobsters, designed to roam the sea floor and find undersea mines, are equipped with “neurons” that allow them to work their way around clutter much as real lobsters would.

Employing sequenced mechanical muscles made from the same metal mesh material used to make the stents implanted in heart patients, Ayers said his work might some day lead to more lifelike prostheses.

The most lifelike robot on display was one depicting the late science fiction writer Philip K. Dick created by Dallas start-up Hanson Robotics.

Seated naturally on a sofa, the figure’s face contorted into human expressions ? frowning, blinking, smiling ? and replied to visitors’ comments using a software programme that chose from among 10,000 pages of Dick’s writings. Cameras behind its eyes could “recognise” acquaintances. Initially a museum piece or fancy toy, the androids could one day become companions for the elderly, the company’s Steve Prilliman said.