Dancing robots!
June 22, 2010 10:00 AM   Subscribe

Dancing Robots
posted by interrobang (25 comments total)
 
I haven't been this terrified by synchronized motion since the enormous Chinese martial arts display during the '08 Olympics opening.
posted by griphus at 10:01 AM on June 22, 2010


(Robosexual pelvic thrusts at 7:28.)
posted by interrobang at 10:04 AM on June 22, 2010


Let me know when they can lock arms in a chorus line and do high-kicks.
posted by bonobothegreat at 10:04 AM on June 22, 2010


Lasers mounted to their arms in 3...2...1...
posted by darkstar at 10:09 AM on June 22, 2010


This demo is amazing. It is also a reminder about some of the things robots don't do well yet.

Notice how the robots kind of wiggle with each motion? Humans don't do that because we have highly accurate Proprioception.

I suspect locking arms and doing high kicks will require that, at least.
posted by poe at 10:17 AM on June 22, 2010 [1 favorite]


I haven't been this terrified by synchronized motion since the enormous Chinese martial arts display during the '08 Olympics opening.

Why? I find it a little more terrifying that free-thinking people can be trained to move in precise formations like a machine, whereas these little guys can be copied and pasted.
posted by olinerd at 10:17 AM on June 22, 2010


I thought dancing involved actually moving your feet. These things aren't dancing, they're gesturing.

This is dancing.
posted by crunchland at 10:30 AM on June 22, 2010 [2 favorites]


...whereas these little guys can be copied and pasted.

Oh, exactly. The current iteration of Chinese culture might be conducive to getting all those people to do that stuff, but anyone with fab technology can make these little guys. And arm them.
posted by griphus at 10:31 AM on June 22, 2010


If this keeps up the next revival of A Chorus Line is gonna be really ....different.


why did they give them eyes! Blank expression eyes!
posted by The Whelk at 10:33 AM on June 22, 2010


Video gets delightfully semi-interesting at oh 1:40, 1:41 or so.
posted by humannaire at 10:37 AM on June 22, 2010


If this keeps up the next revival of A Chorus Line is gonna be really ....different.

I was recently wondering if the show "So You Think You Can Dance" could be more boring. Even watching perfectly synchronized robots dance and knowing full well that they wouldn't mess up was still more entertaining.

SOMEONE PLEASE MAKE GOOD TV AGAIN.
posted by educatedslacker at 10:41 AM on June 22, 2010


Goodbye 12! Goodbye 13! Hello NEW HARDWARE TO ALLOW FOR 40% INCREASED ROTATION IN AXIS 3, 6 AND 90B!
posted by The Whelk at 10:42 AM on June 22, 2010



I was recently wondering if the show "So You Think You Can Dance" could be more boring. Even watching perfectly synchronized robots dance and knowing full well that they wouldn't mess up was still more entertaining.



(The Whelk quietly sneaks away to outline a Futurama Spec Script...)
posted by The Whelk at 10:48 AM on June 22, 2010


Fools! There can be only one.
posted by maudlin at 11:03 AM on June 22, 2010


Tonight all the other robots are going to give that loser on the far left a beating with socks full of batteries for being half a beat off.
posted by digsrus at 12:05 PM on June 22, 2010


...for being half a beat off.

Misreading this got me wondering; is being half a beat-off better or worse than being a total beat-off?
posted by griphus at 12:27 PM on June 22, 2010


This demo is amazing. It is also a reminder about some of the things robots don't do well yet.

Notice how the robots kind of wiggle with each motion? Humans don't do that because we have highly accurate Proprioception.


Which is interesting, when you think about it. Any time you see a human dancer pretending to be a robot (like in this classic clip from So You Think You Can Dance) it involves them isolating most of their body and keeping it perfectly still while very specifically moving a single part of their body. If they let their body wiggle like the real robots, they don't look like a robot.

Those poor robots just can't live up to expectations!
posted by Lokheed at 1:46 PM on June 22, 2010


I thought dancing involved actually moving your feet. These things aren't dancing, they're gesturing.

You thought wrong.
posted by empath at 3:11 PM on June 22, 2010


Unpossible.
posted by crunchland at 3:26 PM on June 22, 2010


It's ... it's a choreographer's dream !!!
posted by Twang at 4:25 PM on June 22, 2010


As envisioned by the famous hexadecimal robot choreographer B0B F055E.
posted by Freon at 7:34 PM on June 22, 2010 [1 favorite]


I remember doing a piece on robots for MTV news back in 1993 and i predicted that they would be doing all our domestic chores by now. 17 years on and all they can do is synchronised arm waving.
posted by glenn333 at 12:11 AM on June 23, 2010


sexy.
posted by sexyrobot at 12:50 AM on June 23, 2010


THIS is dancing.
posted by owtytrof at 11:47 AM on June 23, 2010




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