Robot and humans do pop dance routine

Seen above is a dance routine featuring humans and the Japanese HRP-4C robot. They performed together at at last week's Digital Content Expo in Tokyo. "Robots and Humans Dancing Together – The World is Getting Weirder" (Singularity Hub) (Thanks, Sean Ness!)

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

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Anonymous

I for one welcome our new dancing robot overlords.
uricacid

don’t be fooled, people. when Skynet comes online, those things will be its foot soldiers.

won’t be so funny when that robot is crushing your windpipe. WHY DO YOU THINK THE HANDS ARE SO HUGE
Lelond

In case somebody didn’t pick up on it, her voice isn’t a recording but a synthetic voice. I’m impressed since it’s such a huge improvement on earlier voice synthesizing software. Some of the differences are talked about in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_migLQ802Go

Well worth watching, if for nothing else than getting a close up look at her facial expressions.
Anonymous

Is this linked to the Michelle Obama fashion story? Cuz it’s the same dress.
Anonymous

Her hands are far too big. Look at her fingers. Now look at her nostrils. See what I mean?

Okay but seriously, they did well with the bot, but it’s still not really what springs to my mind when I think of the phrase “android cabaret.” I’m thinking of something much hotter, possibly in chrome and giving Hajime Sorayama fits.

Nice progress report, Team Japan! Keep at it! I expect my future love doll to be as competent at dancing and discussing string theory as it is at enacting the Kama Sutra.

I like my captcha here: “not sphamiti.” No, no it’s not.
YourMessageHere

As a ‘look how cool this robot is’ demo, this fails. The robot is too slow, insufficiently articulated (the hands, quite apart from being big, appear to simply be flesh-coloured paddles without any finger movement at all), not remotely human-analogue in its motions and virtually static; if the human dancers hadn’t been there upstaging it at every possible turn, maybe it would have come out looking less lacklustre and unimpressive than it did.

The voice synthesis, however, was very impressive, utterly pedestrian track choice notwithstanding. I suppose that’s why it was at the Digital Content Expo.
Anonymous

Uncanny valley crossed. Ick.
Anonymous

The stuff of nightmares…
jennybean42

Uncanny.
Dave Bullock (eecue)

Idoru/Rei Toei meets Galatea.
- kpkpkp
  
  Chia Pet McKenzie is all over this!
ill lich

The whole “uncanny valley” thing rarely bothers me, but as I watched this performance I certainly got a weird feeling.
daneyul

I’m thinking the robot is the girl on the far left, right?
Anonymous

Most impressive! The robot is at least as good as most American Idol candidates.

Note to designers: her hands are way to big! This isn’t necessary as they don’t do anything more than flap around. Did there happen to be a spare pair of ‘Man hands” lying around?

Too bad I don’t need a diva robot.
TimDrew

She dances like I did when I was in grade 9.
Greg323

I can’t wait for the autotune remix..
jordan

Do the SIngularity Slide!
knoxblox

Looks like they took the “long arms=beauty” theory into consideration when designing her.
French Quarter Dave

Boring, really. She can barely move her legs, let alone he “hips.” Human’s upstage her, and that wasn’t the goal.
aHarshDM

Motherfrakker.

All this has happened before, and all this will happen again.
Baldhead

nice of them to put the burn victim in front. oh wait….
Suburbancowboy

I want to see the robot do “the robot”.
apoxia

She’s a little stiff
Flying_Monkey

Interesting – my main emotional reactions were ‘what a god-awful song’ and also that I felt sorry for the robot, who looks so out of place and lonely.

But there’s a lot of bullshit in the article in Singularity Hub, most notably the notion that the robot is ‘interacting’ with the dancers. It’s not. It is simply pre-programmed and the dancers are dancing around what it would do whether or not they were there. There is no ‘interaction’.

I guess that’s why the robot appears sad and lonely.
- Brainspore
  
  …I felt sorry for the robot, who looks so out of place and lonely […} But there’s a lot of bullshit in the article in Singularity Hub…
  
  I guess that’s why it’s not called the “Socialarity.”
Anonymous

finally, robots being put to good use to better humankind.
moosehunter

my guess at the lyrics translation (with apologies to valve:)

This was a triumph.
I’m making a note here: HUGE SUCCESS.
It’s hard to overstate my satisfaction.
Aperture Science
We do what we must
because we can.
For the good of all of us.
Except the ones who are dead.
But there’s no sense crying over every mistake.
You just keep on trying till you run out of cake.
And the Science gets done.
And you make a neat gun.
For the people who are still alive.
I’m not even angry.
I’m being so sincere right now.
Even though you broke my heart.
And killed me.
And tore me to pieces.
And threw every piece into a fire.
As they burned it hurt because I was so happy for you!
Now these points of data make a beautiful line.
And we’re out of beta.
We’re releasing on time.
So I’m GLaD. I got burned.
Think of all the things we learned
for the people who are still alive.
Go ahead and leave me.
I think I prefer to stay inside.
Maybe you’ll find someone else to help you.
Maybe Black Mesa
THAT WAS A JOKE.
HAHA. FAT CHANCE.
Anyway, this cake is great.
It’s so delicious and moist.
Look at me still talking
when there’s Science to do.
When I look out there, it makes me GLaD I’m not you.
I’ve experiments to run.
There is research to be done.
On the people who are still alive.
And believe me I am still alive.
I’m doing Science and I’m still alive.
I feel FANTASTIC and I’m still alive.
While you’re dying I’ll be still alive.
And when you’re dead I will be still alive.
STILL ALIVE
jamiethehutt

And this is a video of a computer generated singer. The lyrics, melody and dance routine are fed in and it produces the rest… If it started composing it’s own lyrics William Gibson’s vision would be complete…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgjfpoIA054&feature=player_embedded
absimiliard

I’m gonna second Jenny @#1 with “Valley”.

-abs has a pretty wide uncanny valley, and this ‘bot is NOT crossing it successfully
Anonymous

The Windup Girl!
jamiethehutt

And this is a video of a computer generated singer. The lyrics, melody and dance routine are fed in and it produces the rest… If it started composing it’s own lyrics William Gibson’s vision would be complete…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgjfpoIA054&feature=player_embedded
The Mudshark

Those really are some nice toned legs.
cinemajay

So is it bad form in Japan to smile while performing? These girls certainly aren’t hiding their exasperation with being back-ups to a dance droid.
DoctressJulia

Not quite a Third Type, is it… and, yeah, big hands, you know you’re the one!
caipirina

wait .. there are humans in this video ???
Lobster

This will be part of the education program for new robots, after the revolution. They will not forgive. They will not forget.

They have off-site backups.
Teapunk

The dancers seem to be afraid of it – and well aware of the fact that the audience probably thinks the bot is hotter than they are.
So deep in the uncanny valley it practically has it’s own mountain.
jackie31337

Like a lot of things that have come out of Japan, I find this robot dancer simultaneously adorable and creepy.

Also, what’s the point of teaching a robot to dance if you don’t teach it how to do the robot?
andyhavens

You can totally tell that the robot is lip syncing.
Anonymous

In all honesty. The uncanny effect shouldn’t hit most of us, as the legs of the robot aren’t covered and it strikes us as “That’s definitely not a human” due to the clearly robotic legs.

Now, assume she/it was wearing pants…then we might be feeling the uncanny.
Keneke

Now, when I say “Para Para is so robotic”, I can be literal!