Video: Boston Dynamics’ family of robots has better dance moves than I do

Dancing is one of those skills that people just seem to be born with. Of course, my opinion on this might not carry too much weight, since I was effectively born with two left feet when it comes to the dance floor. But as it turns out, dancing is not something that you need to inherit—you can simply spend years programming it, as the team at Boston Dynamics recently proved with a new group dance video.

This isn’t the first time that we’re seeing dancing robots from Boston Dynamics, however. Back in 2018, my colleague described the robotics company’s four-legged robot, “Spot”, saying that “this robot dances better than you do”. Personally, I’m not too sure how well any of you can dance, which is why I decided to qualify the robots’ latest dance moves as simply better than mine—because my moves are pretty horrific.

But enough about my dance “moves”. Here’s what you came for:

As you can see, the video shows off not just one, or two robots dancing. Boston Dynamics’ entire family of robots take part—Atlas, Spot (who has improved over the years), and Handle—-in a coordinated group dance, set to “Do You Love Me” by The Contours. It’s pretty impressive stuff, and if you have the time, I’d advise you to watch the video in its entirety (the choreography is pretty varied, with a variety of coordinated moves taking place throughout the video).

This latest demonstration comes on the back of a hectic year for Boston Dynamics. In June, the robotics company announced that Spot (yes, the dancing dog above) is now available to U.S. companies at a mouthwatering price of USD 74,500 (~RM300k), while Hyundai has also purchased an 80 percent stake in Boston Dynamics for USD 1.1 billion (~RM4.4 billion)—the company’s third owner in just a single decade.

Putting all of that aside, let’s return to the main issue at hand. The “robot dance” is no longer a stiff, forced routine—so long as they’re Boston Dynamics’ robots.

[ VIA ]

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