I, for one, welcome our new robot rock band overlords
October 31, 2021 6:49 PM Subscribe
Featuring Mech Jagger...
posted by jim in austin at 7:07 PM on October 31, 2021 [21 favorites]
posted by jim in austin at 7:07 PM on October 31, 2021 [21 favorites]
Gross.
posted by Ahmad Khani at 7:11 PM on October 31, 2021 [8 favorites]
posted by Ahmad Khani at 7:11 PM on October 31, 2021 [8 favorites]
I’m actually kind of disappointed that Boston Dynamics put a robot in Charlie Watts’ position, but not one that can actually play the drums.
After all, They Might Be Giants auditioned a robot drummer back in 1996. Why hasn’t that technology caught up?
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 7:17 PM on October 31, 2021 [3 favorites]
After all, They Might Be Giants auditioned a robot drummer back in 1996. Why hasn’t that technology caught up?
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 7:17 PM on October 31, 2021 [3 favorites]
… Mech Jaeger, surely!
posted by V'Ger at 7:17 PM on October 31, 2021 [16 favorites]
posted by V'Ger at 7:17 PM on October 31, 2021 [16 favorites]
Making the robots cute and likable so we’re more conditioned to be okay with them patrolling the streets. But hey, cute video, right?
posted by Ghidorah at 7:17 PM on October 31, 2021 [15 favorites]
posted by Ghidorah at 7:17 PM on October 31, 2021 [15 favorites]
Somewhere Florian Schneider is looking down and proclaiming the Kraftwerk equivalent of "Are you frigging kidding me?!?"
posted by gtrwolf at 7:36 PM on October 31, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by gtrwolf at 7:36 PM on October 31, 2021 [2 favorites]
I gotta be honest. That whole mouth-on-an-articulated-stick thing creeped me the hell out.
Also, the robot made me uncomfortable for the same reason.
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 7:38 PM on October 31, 2021 [28 favorites]
Also, the robot made me uncomfortable for the same reason.
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 7:38 PM on October 31, 2021 [28 favorites]
Yep, try to remember how cute these li'l guys seemed when they're deployed against protesters in the near future.
posted by Sing Or Swim at 7:48 PM on October 31, 2021 [11 favorites]
posted by Sing Or Swim at 7:48 PM on October 31, 2021 [11 favorites]
In a better world where automation could be trusted to make people's lives better, his video would be heralded as a breakthrough in naturalizing our relationships with the robotic assistance that freed us from drudgery and toil. We would be having philosophical conversations about the nature of sentience, so that we could avoid the subjugation of the self aware in our pursuit of full-comfort convenience and leisure.
posted by mhoye at 7:52 PM on October 31, 2021 [13 favorites]
posted by mhoye at 7:52 PM on October 31, 2021 [13 favorites]
That's creepy as hell. And the robot's pretty disturbing too.
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:56 PM on October 31, 2021 [5 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:56 PM on October 31, 2021 [5 favorites]
I thought the robot was cute. The mouth-on-articulated stick read to me as "hand puppet."
posted by Orlop at 7:57 PM on October 31, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by Orlop at 7:57 PM on October 31, 2021 [4 favorites]
Oh, you wanted jerky, metronomic Rolling Stones? You want a fundamentally disturbing aesthetic that's a critique of progress and of the place of humans in modern society? You want contemporary re-use of historical footage in upsetting ways? You want ambiguous philosophy? Here ya go!
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 8:13 PM on October 31, 2021 [6 favorites]
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 8:13 PM on October 31, 2021 [6 favorites]
I thought that Mick, Charlie, Keith and the other one did a very good imitation of the robots. Well done, guys!
posted by storybored at 8:24 PM on October 31, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by storybored at 8:24 PM on October 31, 2021 [1 favorite]
The mouth-on-articulated stick read to me as "hand puppet."
Somebody get them a Jagger muppet.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 8:28 PM on October 31, 2021
Somebody get them a Jagger muppet.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 8:28 PM on October 31, 2021
@Orlop: I’ve never been a fan of The Rolling Stones. Saw them in concert once; they must have gotten a discount on volume, cause there was lots of it.
@mhoye: Seems like we could avoid the whole self-awareness issue by just creating expert systems that aren’t sentient (not that we’re good judges anyway). It would still leave us plenty of leisure time and give us something to do besides fighting off an army of Benders.
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 8:33 PM on October 31, 2021
@mhoye: Seems like we could avoid the whole self-awareness issue by just creating expert systems that aren’t sentient (not that we’re good judges anyway). It would still leave us plenty of leisure time and give us something to do besides fighting off an army of Benders.
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 8:33 PM on October 31, 2021
So they're making robots to be able to replace the Stones as they die so that we will never be without a year in which there is not a Rolling Stones concert tour.
posted by perhapses at 9:11 PM on October 31, 2021
posted by perhapses at 9:11 PM on October 31, 2021
Yeah, but the robots were obviously lip-syncing...
And they weren't even playing their instruments...
posted by Windopaene at 9:17 PM on October 31, 2021 [2 favorites]
And they weren't even playing their instruments...
posted by Windopaene at 9:17 PM on October 31, 2021 [2 favorites]
>I’m actually kind of disappointed that Boston Dynamics put a robot in Charlie Watts’ position, but not one that can actually play the drums.
Yeah, they need to build a robot to sync to this video.
posted by Catblack at 10:13 PM on October 31, 2021
Yeah, they need to build a robot to sync to this video.
posted by Catblack at 10:13 PM on October 31, 2021
That was highkey amazing but lowkey I can't help but thinking of Boston Dynamics as the Star Citizen of robotics. An everlasting alpha that keeps the capital flowing in with jaw dropping tech demos, but has no long-term plan to sustain profitability as a regular retail product.
posted by xigxag at 10:57 PM on October 31, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by xigxag at 10:57 PM on October 31, 2021 [2 favorites]
The real horror here is Ronnie Wood's moustache.
posted by Paul Slade at 1:24 AM on November 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Paul Slade at 1:24 AM on November 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
The real horror is that it probably wasn't that hard to do. Think of it this way, social media branch and some fun engineers out for a laugh. Then think of what R&D under blankets of secrecy know they could pull off.
Personally I always wanted a robot cheetah or such, feline and big and cuddly and a bit standoffish i.e. not a dog. I'll start worrying and want one when they move like cats.
posted by zengargoyle at 1:41 AM on November 1, 2021
Personally I always wanted a robot cheetah or such, feline and big and cuddly and a bit standoffish i.e. not a dog. I'll start worrying and want one when they move like cats.
posted by zengargoyle at 1:41 AM on November 1, 2021
^F Compressorhead, nothing found ...
... so here you have a robot band who actually play their instruments (excepting the singer):
Compressorhead - Ace of Spades
The drummer has four arms and the lead guitarist hundreds of "fingers". Also, there are 5 robots in total, but the little guy on high-hat is hard to see from these camera angles.
posted by illongruci at 2:43 AM on November 1, 2021 [6 favorites]
... so here you have a robot band who actually play their instruments (excepting the singer):
Compressorhead - Ace of Spades
The drummer has four arms and the lead guitarist hundreds of "fingers". Also, there are 5 robots in total, but the little guy on high-hat is hard to see from these camera angles.
posted by illongruci at 2:43 AM on November 1, 2021 [6 favorites]
I will always be in the 'no' column with these things. The heads are reptilian/snake-like to me and I have an instinctive, reflexive revulsion towards snakes. Solid, solid no from me. Sky-net's foot soldiers. I was reading something, right, the FCC Chairman going on about how you should be able to kick these dogs over, disable them easily, etc. (I apologise but I can't find the twitter link) - and there was something somewhat reassuring about the un-spoken point there, that likely these can be 'defeated'/ neutralised by kicking them over... of course I'm sure the engineers are/ have written code to help them get back up with that reptilian head, or something - but still: they are far from omnipotent, and maybe only very barely just competent... for now...
posted by From Bklyn at 2:51 AM on November 1, 2021
posted by From Bklyn at 2:51 AM on November 1, 2021
From Bklyn, the problem with kicking them over, at least the ones used by the police, is that, if they haven’t been already, they’ll be considered police (like K-9 dogs are) and granted all of the same protections. That’d mean kicking them would be (or already is, but not sure) equivalent to assaulting a police officer.
But hey, cute videos!
posted by Ghidorah at 3:01 AM on November 1, 2021 [6 favorites]
But hey, cute videos!
posted by Ghidorah at 3:01 AM on November 1, 2021 [6 favorites]
All I could think of from the very start was how they reminded me of velociraptors. Someone really needs take a shot of the three robots lined up near the end with their "mouths" open and paste Chris Pratt from the "Jurassic World" Meme in front of them.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 3:25 AM on November 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 3:25 AM on November 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
Rocker's Bass-ilisk
posted by chavenet at 3:29 AM on November 1, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by chavenet at 3:29 AM on November 1, 2021 [4 favorites]
The heads are reptilian/snake-like to me.
Some of the earlier Boston Dynamics robodogs had no head at all, which always struck me as evidence the company had missed a trick in its PR operation. Even if they'd just jammed a football with couple of googly eyes on there, I bet it would've have boosted public acceptance by 10% pr more.
Giving them somewhat a less threatening appearance to belie their role as relentless death machines may actually prove a necessary step in paving the way for these things to be deployed.
posted by Paul Slade at 3:33 AM on November 1, 2021
Some of the earlier Boston Dynamics robodogs had no head at all, which always struck me as evidence the company had missed a trick in its PR operation. Even if they'd just jammed a football with couple of googly eyes on there, I bet it would've have boosted public acceptance by 10% pr more.
Giving them somewhat a less threatening appearance to belie their role as relentless death machines may actually prove a necessary step in paving the way for these things to be deployed.
posted by Paul Slade at 3:33 AM on November 1, 2021
At this point, Metalhead should be required viewing for every human on Earth. They should be showing in schools.
posted by Beholder at 4:08 AM on November 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Beholder at 4:08 AM on November 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
Patiently waiting for the Cheer Me Up match-up!
posted by dobbs at 5:27 AM on November 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by dobbs at 5:27 AM on November 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
At this point, Metalhead should be required viewing for every human on Earth. They should be showing in schools.
That, or Hardware.
posted by Ghidorah at 5:59 AM on November 1, 2021
That, or Hardware.
posted by Ghidorah at 5:59 AM on November 1, 2021
Like Chuck E. Cheese, but with machine guns.
posted by eotvos at 7:37 AM on November 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by eotvos at 7:37 AM on November 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
The Spots were kinda cute, but also a little creepy. Adding an articulated snake-mouth arm on-top throws them into the more creepy side of the equation for me personally. Do not want.
posted by rozcakj at 7:39 AM on November 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by rozcakj at 7:39 AM on November 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
Add another arm-head and you've got a Pierson's Puppeteer.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 7:50 AM on November 1, 2021 [5 favorites]
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 7:50 AM on November 1, 2021 [5 favorites]
Something something, George Carlin, something something, this planet won't even notice when we're gone, something something.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:13 AM on November 1, 2021
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:13 AM on November 1, 2021
each time the roll out something showing how 'cute' and 'cool' these are I roll my eyes.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 9:29 AM on November 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 9:29 AM on November 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
The choice of a Rolling Stones video for this proves without a shadow of a doubt that the people calling the shots behind the upcoming robot-powered police-state are boomers.
If I'm gonna get my family's human rights rescinded, I'd at least like to think it's by somebody who's kept up with the culture in the past few decades.
posted by signal at 9:30 AM on November 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
If I'm gonna get my family's human rights rescinded, I'd at least like to think it's by somebody who's kept up with the culture in the past few decades.
posted by signal at 9:30 AM on November 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
What are robot dogs actually being used for? (YouTube, Tom Scott)
posted by biogeo at 9:33 AM on November 1, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by biogeo at 9:33 AM on November 1, 2021 [4 favorites]
It's nice but it's no, Captured! By Robots. https://youtu.be/ynP4JnKehOc?t=80
posted by schmudde at 10:04 AM on November 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by schmudde at 10:04 AM on November 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
Making the robots cute and likable so we’re more conditioned to be okay with them patrolling the streets
never fear: pickle juice.
posted by pjenks at 10:29 AM on November 1, 2021 [2 favorites]
never fear: pickle juice.
posted by pjenks at 10:29 AM on November 1, 2021 [2 favorites]
pickle juice
with plenty of salt, and powdered tungsten carbide in suspension just to give it some kick, and a bit of dish soap to help it penetrate better.
posted by flabdablet at 4:39 AM on November 2, 2021 [1 favorite]
with plenty of salt, and powdered tungsten carbide in suspension just to give it some kick, and a bit of dish soap to help it penetrate better.
posted by flabdablet at 4:39 AM on November 2, 2021 [1 favorite]
Ah, classic live footage from the Stones' concert in the Uncanny Valley.
posted by foldedfish at 7:31 AM on November 2, 2021
posted by foldedfish at 7:31 AM on November 2, 2021
If Boston Dynamics wants to impress me, they'll make Atlas able to carry a large mug of hot coffee filled to 3mm below the brim from one end of my house to the other without spilling a drop. This is my own personal superpower.
I am available for motion capture and training purposes, though naturally I will require a huge military-funded fee.
posted by flabdablet at 10:27 AM on November 2, 2021 [2 favorites]
I am available for motion capture and training purposes, though naturally I will require a huge military-funded fee.
posted by flabdablet at 10:27 AM on November 2, 2021 [2 favorites]
At this point, Metalhead should be required viewing for every human on Earth. They should be showing in schools.
That, or Hardware.
OK, so I just watched Hardware, of which I was previously unaware so thank you for that.
It is very bad.
Metalhead FTW.
posted by flabdablet at 12:18 PM on November 2, 2021
That, or Hardware.
OK, so I just watched Hardware, of which I was previously unaware so thank you for that.
It is very bad.
Metalhead FTW.
posted by flabdablet at 12:18 PM on November 2, 2021
Having not seen Hardware since the 90s, my hazy memories of deeply loving it are at war with the knowledge that you’re probably right. Still, you wound me! Killbots at dawn!
posted by Ghidorah at 6:37 PM on November 2, 2021
posted by Ghidorah at 6:37 PM on November 2, 2021
It's so weird to me that there are people that see stuff like this and get really excited. Will this technology ever translate into something that improves lives and helps people? It is my most fervent hope that I end up alongside folks who decried the dangers of traveling 40 MPH on a train or reading the newspaper in the morning, but I simply don't see how this is ever going to change things for the better.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 6:52 PM on November 2, 2021
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 6:52 PM on November 2, 2021
Killbots at dawn!
Disable your killbot. You have twenty seconds to comply.
posted by flabdablet at 12:54 AM on November 3, 2021
Disable your killbot. You have twenty seconds to comply.
posted by flabdablet at 12:54 AM on November 3, 2021
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