Martial Arts Robots! China's Spring Festival Gala delivers Jaw-Dropping Performance

Talk about Kaylon’s Got Talent… This is dazzling stuff - a host of humanoid robots performing martial arts with youthful human partners.  Yet these performers are not from Isaac’s homeworld: this is China.  When people remark that this is going to be the “Chinese Century”, it’s difficult to disbelieve them when you watch a show like this.  This year’s Spring Festival Gala from Beijing (broadcast by the China Global Television Network) saw humanoid robots join forces with Young Fu artists to deliver a jaw-dropping martial arts performance (see below).  It has, naturally, very quickly gone viral since the gala aired on 16 February.

These robots, child-size and so perfectly matched against their pre-teen opponents, moved in perfect synchronisation with the performers (with only the occasional slight wobble). They executed precise martial arts routines that blended centuries-old traditions with cutting-edge robotics.  Plus, the kids seem to be having a lot of fun, too (and no Kaylon-style revolution either, although that might have been interesting to watch).  

Yes, this might count as a form of soft propaganda, but flipping heck, I love it.  The robots were developed by Unitree Robotics, based in Hangzhou in eastern China’s Zhejiang province (and not owned by the Chinese government, as it happens). As technology becomes embedded into national celebrations like these, I wonder what we in the West can come up with to compete with this (or perhaps we don't have to?).   Answers on a postcard, please...

Now you have seen the illusion, as it were, take a look at the bigger picture.  The video belows goes into the details behind the Unitree Robotics spectcacular performance.  I have to admit to a nagging worry about these robots being weaponized, but perhaps I have been watching The Orville (and other movies and shows) too much.  Yet my blood did run ever so slightly cold when the taller robot came out towards the end of the performance, jian sword in hand. Time will tell, but I am quite happy that my last name isn't Connor right now. Sorry for mixing my sci-fi metaphors.

Kuratas – The Giant Robot Controlled by an iPhone

Do you remember the scene from Aliens when Ripley, confronted by the queen which is about to mince up poor, tragic Newt, screams Get away from her you bitch! and proceeds to fight the monster in her exosuit cargo-loader? Fortunately for us, perhaps, the alien is still classified as fiction. The exosuit, on the other hand, just came a little closer to being reality. This is Kuratas.

Image Credit Flickr User scopedog

This leviathan is currently being exhibited at a Maker’s Faire at Miraikan, The National Museum of Engineering, Science and Innovation in Tokyo.  It was created by a team which combined science and art. Kogoro Kurata (above) is the artist behind Kuratas, and so has named it after himself (adding an s and why not). Wataru Yoshizaki is the engineer (aka tech guy) who helped Kogoro make Kuratas come alive.

Celebrity Robot Audition

So, you are considering getting a robot to handle the luggage at your hotel. You get two of your best Human Resources officers to conduct the interview and to be honest, they don’t go so well.  What would you expect from a host of robots from the last fifty years of science fiction all queuing up for the privilege of working for you?

This is a very clever piece of advertising from Yotel. Their hotel in New York now has a robot to do what the bellboy used to do. It automatically places the suitcases in lockers for guests who want to ramble round New York.  The video was put together by Looseworld, a creative agency that specializes in new media like music videos, short films, and branded content.

I am still wondering who I would have employed, had this not been the case. Probably R2D2. I always had a soft spot for the little fellah.

Alley Dog

Humanity has abandoned the planet and all that is left are robotic vestiges of the lives which were once played out here.

A robot mutt, looking for its next meal of nuts, bolts and general circuitry stumbles across some potential prey and a chase through the derelict city ensues.

This is a very cool animation by the team of Trisha Johnson and Casey Pike. Both attended South Oregon University and have since graduated.

This is their collaboration for their degree – an ambitious project it has to be said for undergraduates. Yet they pull it off with aplomb and panache.

Blinky™

Artificial Intelligence this ain’t.  A young boy longs for company, his parents are always rowing and he believe the hype that the new robot helper come play mate, Blinky, will help heal the rift between his parents and that his home life will return to the happy situation it once was.

Of course, things never go quite to plan and soon the boy tires of his new robot pal.  Yet, you should never misuse a robot – you never know quite what will happen when conflicting orders are given... Trust me, you are going to see a number of Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics broken here.

This is a great short film, written & Directed by Ruairi Robinson.  It stars Max Records  who you may recognize from Where The Wild Things Are.  The cinematography is done by Macgregor and the music by Ólafur Arnalds, courtesy of Erased Tapes.

This may not be quite what you expect…

Transistor - Beauty is Individual

This really is very sweet.  We all have our own definitions of beauty and in the robot world that is no exception.  Here, a young droid on his first outing is experiencing the natural world and all of its wonder for the first time.  What will he find beautiful?  You may (or may not) be surprised.

The makers, Suponix, who are based in Russia put a lot of time and effort into this work -and it shows.  Their dream was to create an interesting main character, designing all the surrounding nature, and then modeling, visualizing and animating entire scene.We hope that you agree that they hit the nail (or should that be transistor?) on the head.

Amazing Dance of Nao by Aldebaran Robotics (video)

You may have heard of Nao - he is the robotic creation of European company Aldebaran.  This, though, is simply brilliant.  The company, founded by Bruno Maisonnier who has had a dream for over twenty five years that robotics could become an everyday reality, is currently marketing their Nao robot like crazy - and you can see why here.

Perhaps we are one step closer with Nao, who we see here performing en masse in the French Pavillion at the Shanghai Expo, to realising the dream of robots in our lives.We may not be in the full realm of Spielbergian Artifical Intelligence but certainly a few steps closer thanks to Nao and his dancing feet.

Nao possesses four microphones which fitted into his head and a voice recognition and analysis system. You can supplement the words he already knows with words and expressions you want to add. These words can trigger any behaviour you choose. He has full bluetooth capacity and you can send him your music to play back to you later!

He can also read out any files that you store on (in?) him which can even be from an RSS flow so you can catch up with your favorite blogger (cough, cough!) through him.  He has speakers on either side of his head and he can even be configured to allow for voice alterations. Nao is also capable of detecting the source of a sound or voice to deal with that source and start interacting.

This is worth watching to the end just to see the really cute way he bows.