A video of Boston Dynamics’ “family” of robots dancing to “Do You Love Me” from The Contours is circulating the internet, and social media reactions indicate that many humans are not at all comfortable with the machines’ advanced abilities.
What are the details?
On Tuesday, tech CEO Reza Zadeh tweeted a video showing BD’s robots showing off and cutting a rug with a variety of moves.
“It’s pretty awesome how dancing makes robots less intimidating,” Zadeh wrote. “Looking forward to seeing more nontrivial Machine Learning on these robots.”
It’s pretty awesome how dancing makes robots less intimidating. Looking forward to seeing more nontrivial Machine L… https://t.co/GqLNDidBMe
— Reza Zadeh (@Reza Zadeh)1609271720.0
Most followers did not agree that the advancements were “pretty awesome,” rather they voiced concerned over whether the machines were simply one step closer to ending mankind.
One person wrote, “I mean, yeah, this is pretty interesting tech, but does anyone honestly think these *won’t* be used to render humans completely obsolete? Robots don’t need healthcare, they don’t ask for raises, and they don’t form unions. They aren’t meant to assist us, they’re to REPLACE us.”
Another weighed in, “Uh, you did see those robots do an overhead kick right? It’s only a matter of time until these things hunt us down in the streets when we make rich people angry. Finally, they won’t have to pay cops to keep us in line.”
Someone else chimed in, “Less threatening? Now they’ve been programmed to dance on our graves!” while another added, “They’ll look great dancing on our corpses when the machine revolution begins.”
The media took notice, too. For The Win‘s Mike Sykes II declared, “The Boston Dynamics robots have learned how to dance and it’s terrifying.” Gizmodo’s Andrew Liszewski wrote that the Boston Dynamics’ video might “be a ploy to distract humanity from their ultimate goal: total dominance on the dance floor, or the eradication of humans.” He added, “both seem equally plausible.”
Boston Dynamics was recently purchased by Hyundai Motors for nearly $1 billion. The robot maker developed “Spot,” a robot dog, years ago, and the model has since been tested out by law enforcement as a possible replacement for K-9 officers.
Spot was also used in Singapore earlier this year to patrol a park — equipped with cameras — reminding people to socially distance in compliance with COVID-19 restrictions.
But Spot has been dancing for years, now. Here’s a 2018 video of the robot getting down to Bruno Mars’ “Uptown Funk”:
UpTown Spot
www.youtube.com