New Video Shows Boston Dynamics' Robo-Dog Dancing To A Whole New Beat
It comes as no surprise that after South Korean firm Hyundai finalized its acquisition of Boston Dynamics earlier this month, the internet's favorite dancing four-legged robot, Spot, danced to a song by South Korean boy band BTS.
The South Korean automotive giant now owns a controlling interest in the Massachusetts-based robotics company, previously belonging to SoftBank.
Last year, Hyundai and BTS partnered in a music video called "I'm On It" that featured an IONIQ, a new EV lineup brand of Hyundai. So it comes as no surprise that Hyundai would use BTS to pump up their new Spot robot in a video released Tuesday.
Seven Spot robo-dogs can be seen dancing to the BTS song.
Another video shows a couple of members of BTS dancing alongside Spot.
Eric Whitman, a Boston Dynamics roboticist who had a role in the music video, said, "There were a lot of challenges around getting the vision of our choreographer, who's used to dealing with human dancers, into our software."
Whitman said, "Everything had to be worked out in advance and scripted precisely. Robots have the advantage over humans in that they're very repeatable: Once you get it right, it stays right. But they have the disadvantage that you have to tell them every little detail. They don't improvise at all."
Whitman said it had taken years to evolve Spot's behavior and movements, such as reliable walking and climbing.
"When we do these projects we always have two goals," he said. "One is to use the video as motivation to improve the product. The secondary goal is to have fun making the video."
Under South Korean ownership, we wonder what new tasks Hyundai will program Spot to do in the future.
Meanwhile, China has released a robo-dog of their own.
So the question remains: Will these robots end up in a war?
To answer that, a top French military academy has already trained with Spot.
So the answer could likely be yes.
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