As if there was any shortage of pre-programmed (or brainwashed) holy men sending superficial “blessings” for the sake of saving our souls! In comes a Robo-Priest by the name of BlessU-2, which makes you just as uncomfortable as any other priest.
You can poke around on the touchscreen embedded on his chest, and it will invoke the power and love of God and give you customized blessings. The robot also raises its arms at a snail’s pace to light up the hands in what is supposed to look like a spiritual experience.
The robot has a printer which prints out the vocal blessing for you to take home! What a time to be alive; isn’t it! Join the club if you are wondering about the purpose of this rather angry looking Robo Priest, although its creator, Stephan Krebs from the Protestant Church in Hesse and Nassau, says it was made to provoke a debate.
“We wanted people to consider if it is possible to be blessed by a machine, or if a human being is needed,” he said.
“Although our objective was never to suggest that priests have become obsolete in any way, they were seeking to bring a theological perspective to a machine.”
The robot has been unveiled in Germany on the occasion of the 500 years anniversary of the Reformation debuted by Martin Luther in the town of Wittenberg back in 1517. This dumb robot is not expected to create any such schism though since it isn’t based on AI and is a simple command based machine. A similar Buddhist robot monk was seen a few months back in China named Xian’er, although it isn’t clear why the Christian version looks so angry in comparison.
Watch it in cringe-worthy action below!
https://youtu.be/4hbAPB2wxPs