Just when you thought the ‘uncanny valley’ had finally run out of unsettling surprises, the universe (or perhaps a very bored robotics engineer) delivers another masterpiece. The ‘Old Ball’ animatronic basketball, a veteran of the uncanny, now has a new, equally spherical compatriot. Prepare yourselves for ‘Old Football’, a fresh face — or rather, a fresh, leathery sphere — ready to join the commentary box. It seems our future sporting spectacles will be narrated not by insightful pundits, but by a dynamic duo of geriatric, disembodied orbs, whose analysis will no doubt be as round and repetitive as their very forms. Welcome to the future, where your match-day insights come courtesy of a pair of well-worn automatons.
