Behind the scenes with Keepon, the dancing robot.

Not long ago here on BoingBoing, my colleague Pesco pointed to a music video featuring the very cute, yellow-bodied, bobble-bird 'bot Keepon, dancing to Spoon's song "Don't You Evah." Earlier still, Pesco explained how the li'l guy works:

Programmed by Marek Michalowski of Carnegie Mellon University and Hideki Kozima of Japan's National Institute of Communications Technology, the robot (…) extracts extract the pulse of rhythm from music and move its silicone body in time.

Spoon and Keepon will be kicking off Wired NextFest in Los Angeles next Monday, September 10. There's a neat slideshow up on Wired.com today with background on Keepon's use in clinical research with autistic children — and some fun behind-the-scenes shots from that Spoon video. (thanks, Melanie Cornwell!)

Previously on BoingBoing:

  • Robot dances with rhythm
  • Dancing robot in Spoon video