The annual Spring Festival Gala is a "must see" TV experience in China, broadcast on the eve of the Lunar New year. This year's show featured dancing by humanoid robots developed by several Chinese robotics firms. The robots danced, flipped, jumped, and performed martial arts moves. Only one fell, and that turned out to be a programmed stunt. The robots, which are about four feet tall, were joined by a group of children dancing onstage, which was impressive due to the danger it implied. The robots relied on their programming and would not have been able to make any adjustments for the human dancers. But the choreography went off flawlessly.
This performance was designed to impress the world, while Western roboticists emphasize that dancing robots don't need to have situational awareness in order to adapt to changing conditions like industrial robots would. But they can sure put on a show! -via Laughing Squid


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