Robotic recruiter

If you've ever wondered about your interview techniques in front of others, or the psychology at play between you and the HR or middle manager, then imagine the next-gen dynamic that's already happening in Sweden: firms trialling an in-person interview robot. It makes HAL 9000 in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey all seem a bit, well, turn of the century.

Stockholm-based recruitment firm TNG, one of Sweden's largest, is using a robot called Tengai to conduct interviews with potential job candidates, which consists of a head that sits or projects from a table, facing the interviewee at eye-level.

Tengai measures 41 centimetres high and weighs 3.5kg. It also has something of a human-like face, so it isn't entirely manufactured but something closer to androidal. Its glowing face can tilt from side to side, and it blinks and smiles, thus mimicking not just our subtle facial expressions but also the way we speak.