Boston Dynamics founder talks about how he taught robots to dance

It took a year and a half to teach robots to dance almost like humans - smoothly, but energetically and to the beat.

choreography lessons, modeling,programming and updates. The now legendary clip showing robots dancing to the 1962 hit "Do You Love Me?" The Contours were filmed in just two days. The video, less than 3 minutes in length, became an instant hit on social media. In one week, the clip has collected over 23 million views.

The video shows two humanoidthe Atlas exploration robot from Boston Dynamics, joined by Spot, the robot dog, and Handle, a wheeled robot designed to lift and move crates in a warehouse or truck.

The founder of Boston Dynamics, Mark Reibert, said the experience of teaching dance robots was very valuable.

The challenging task of teaching robots to dancepushed Boston Dynamics engineers to develop better motion programming tools that would allow robots to coordinate balance, bounce, and dance steps at the same time.

“It turned out that we need to upgrade robotsin the middle of development. It took more energy and “strength” to dance without stopping, ”explains Reibert. “So we went from very crude tools to efficient ones with the ability to generate quickly.”

The robot dancing was so good that some online viewers said they couldn't believe their eyes. Some applauded the movements of the robots and the technology on which they are built.

“We didn't want the robot to dance like a robot.Our goal was to create a robot that would dance with people, like a person himself, to the rhythm of music, to which all parts of the body obey - arms, legs, torso, head. I think we did it, ”concludes the founder of Boston Dynamics.