Everyone’s picked up some new hobbies over the past year to keep sane. Some baked bread. Some started yoga. Some picked up a new instrument to play. Well, Spot, the quadrupedal dog-ish robot made by Boston Dynamics, has recently been experimenting with the ancient form of artistic expression known as dance. And it’s got pretty good at it.
Spot on choreography
You can check out this clip of several Spots dancing along to “IONIQ: I’m On It” by K-pop sensation BTS. We prefer “Butter”, but this is a jam too. The video was put together to celebrate Hyundai Motor Group finalizing its acquisition of Boston Dynamics. If they don’t start building dancing cars, we’re going to call it a wasted opportunity, but that’s just us.
Like any K-pop group worth its salt, the robodog group is showing off some impressive choreography, and executing it flawlessly. That’s the thing about robots: no room for human error. It’s not like these bots would have spent hours and hours rehearsing these slick moves on their own (unless they’ve become sentient, in which case now would be the time to find another planet). They’re probably not even being handled remotely in real-time, no, that’s too much human interaction for that precise popping and locking.
Some folks over at Boston Dynamics probably took the time to write out the stylish sequence and programmed it into Spot to perform perfectly every time. The precise choreography would have obviously taken some trial-and-error but once they had it up to scratch the bots would be ready to show it off exactly right each time. That’s the beauty of science: when it’s right it’s right. While it’s definitely not Spot’s prime directive to be jamming out to a K-pop track it’s certainly fun to watch. And far less terrifying than watching it shoulder up with the French military.