A robot on show at a Russian state-sponsored tech exhibition has turned out to be a man dressed in a costume, the BBC reports.

The robot, named Boris, was featured on Russian TV and was apparently able to walk, talk and dance, but soon after its appearance journalists began to question its authenticity.

In a picture published afterwards on social media, the neck of a person was clearly visible, and it turned out that so-called robot was, in fact, a £2,975 costume called Alyosha the Robot, made by a company called Show Robots.

Though the organisers of the tech event – which was aimed at youngsters – did not claim the robot was real, the TV coverage on Russia-24 suggested it was.

There have been several breakthroughs in the robotics industry among developed countries of the world and there seems to be a competition of sorts over whose technology is the most advanced.

Watch a video of the fake robot below: