Japanese robotics experts from AIST demonstrated the HRP-4C android dancing with human counterparts and the performance is impressive, if still a bit hard to watch.
The HRP-4C is clearly a native of Uncanny Valley, but this performance at the Digital Content Expo in Tokyo isn’t terrible. The robot dances and sways to the awful J Pop song, backed by a quartet of real humans whose choreography doesn’t quite match up but at least complements the movements of the HRP-4C. The performance took over a year of preparations by the robot’s creators and Japanese choreographer, SAM-san. Without further ado, I present to you: Dance Robot LIVE! – HRP-4C Cybernetic Human.
Humans have been searching for a machine that can pass as one of them for a long time. From Homer’s The Iliad, which describes the Greek god Hephaestus being aided by “golden maidservants” in the crafting of Achilles’ armor to the modern nerd’s affection for Lieutenant Data on Star Trek The Next Generation, such androids have long been a fascination. While robotics has moved forward in the 21st century so that we are unfazed by them building our cars or one cleaning our floors, unfortunately, the technology to recreate lifelike movement in human-shaped robots hasn’t been so successful. That doesn’t mean that roboticists have stopped trying, and the HRP-4C is just another step closer.
Wait, we have an incoming transmission … brch … For the love of Pete, somebody stop them! Not only will the robot overlords attack us with machine guns and nuclear weapons, but they will also dance us to death with freakishly long hands and jerky movements. No one is safe while they are allowed to manufacture HRP-4Cs. There are thousands of them. Thous— … brchcchhhhhhh …
Transmission ends.
Source: Pink Tentacle
Published: Nov 10, 2010 08:51 pm