Lifelike robots with human like abilities. [Photo; softpedia]

Robot-powered news readers have been unveiled by scientists in Japan.

The lifelike Kodomoroid - an amalgamation of the Japanese word 'kodomo' meaning child and android - delivered news to reporters in Tokyo.

In the demonstration, the newsreading android - which scientists claim is the world's first - spoke smoothly and moved her lips in time to a voice-over.

She also twitched their eye brows, blinked and swayed her head from side-to-side.

The Kodomoroid was sat near a grown-up robot Otonaroid in the display at Tokyo's National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation.

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Both androids, which are powered by compressed air and servomotors, will be interacting with visitors to the museum to collect data for Japanese robotics expert Hiroshi Ishiguro's studies into human reactions to the machines.

The 50-year-old told AFP: "This will give us important feedback as we explore the question of what is human. We want robots to become increasingly clever."