This was just passed to me by some folks on IRC. It’s about 3 minutes of a demonstration of choreographed dancing by 2′ tall robots. I had heard about this particular piece a while ago (the file is dated 12/18/2003), but had sort of dismissed it as “yea yea, dancing robots, Marvin does the hoochee koochee. Big deal.
This is MUCH better than I expected. These robots are apparently built by Sony, and are called Qrio (also spelled ‘Quro’ some places). They are some of the most articulate robots ever made, able to run, jump, roll, pick things up, do visual face recognition, have tactile feedback in their hands, etc.
As noted on several other sites, Japan (Honda and Sony in particular) are YEARS ahead of anything the US is producing in this arena. The Qrio site above has many videos and pictures of the robot in action. Truly inspiring stuff.
About Dave Shevett
A wandering geek. Toys, shiny things, pursuits and distractions.
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