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Watch: Boston Dynamics Robots dances at America's Got Talent, dies mid-performance onstage

Time of India

5 days ago

Entertainment
Time of India

Watch: Boston Dynamics Robots dances at America's Got Talent, dies mid-performance onstage

Boston Dynamics' four legged Spot robots recently impressed everyone with their dance performance on 'America's Got Talent'. The robots managed to impress everyone with their synchronised dance steps on the iconic hit song ' Don't Stop Me Now'. However,an unexpected mishap during the performance made their dance video viral. All the five spot robots started dancing and all of a sudden one of the robot froze mid-performance. However, the remaining four robots continued with the dance performance and later earned a standing ovation and 'yes' vote from the judges of the show. Boston Dynamics' four legged Spot robots danced on America's Got Talent All the five Spot robots from Boston Dynamics took to the stage and started their dance performance. Both the judges and the audience of the reality show were in awe seeing their synchronised movements which included swaying, spinning, and precise shifts in formation. At one point, their gripper arms even mimicked Freddie Mercury's signature mic stand gestures. However, the audition witnessed an unplanned turn when during the performance one of the robots abruptly stopped dancing and remained motionless on stage. Despite the sudden shut down of the robot, the other four robots continued their performance without missing a single beat. Reaction of the audience and judges to the dance performance by Boston Dynamics' four legged Spot robots After the performance, both the judges and the audience gave a standing ovation to the robots. When a Boston Dynamics engineer appeared on stage and was asked if the downed robot could be fixed, he confidently replied, "Of course. At Boston Dynamics, we believe in building, breaking, and fixing." In a dramatic moment, the seemingly lifeless robot then whirred back to life, stood up, and rejoined its fellow performers, eliciting an even louder cheer from the crowd. Cowell even remarked on the unexpected malfunction, suggesting it "was weirdly better that one of them died... because it showed how difficult this was. AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now

Watch: Boston Dynamics' four-legged robots steal spotlight on ‘America's Got Talent'

Indian Express

6 days ago

Entertainment
Indian Express

Watch: Boston Dynamics' four-legged robots steal spotlight on ‘America's Got Talent'

From sword-swallowing magicians to singing dogs, there's been no shortage of bizarre acts that have turned up during auditions for season 20 of the popular reality television show 'America's Got Talent'. However, the bar for strange but spectacular performances was raised yet again last week when a group of four-legged robots appeared onstage to perform a synchronised dance routine to 'Don't Stop Me Now' by British rock band Queen. The robots named Spot were developed by US-based robotmaker Boston Dynamics. Their routine ran into a minor mishap with one of the five robots shutting down during the middle of the performance. However, all four judges of the reality show voted to advance the dance crew to the next round of the talent contest. Boston Dynamics' onstage act could be an attempt to make its bots go viral even as it supposedly struggles to sell the robots which are priced at an eye-watering $74,500. Spot is said to be the most advanced mobile robot in the world. It can be used to perform patrols and inspections. But it is more nimble than humanoid robots and lacks the physical strength required for tasks such as carrying packages or unloading trucks. At the end of their performance, judge Simon Cowell said, 'Can I be honest with you? I don't mean this in a cruel way. It was weirdly better that one of them died… because it showed how difficult this was.' 'So amazing. After 20 years, how can we see something we haven't seen on this stage? This is something we have never seen on this stage,' said Howie Mandel, another judge on the show. A few years ago, Boston Dynamics shared a video about how its robots are programmed to demonstrate its mobility like losing balance, falling, and getting up on its own. 'A natural consequence of pushing robots to their limit is that, sometimes, those limits are met,' Boston Dynamics wrote in a blog post at the time. Amid intensifying competition in the robotics industry, the company laid off five per cent of its workforce last year. 'We'll be singing / when we're winning.' 🔊 — Brian Heater (@bheater) August 17, 2021 It also permanently shut down Atlas, a hydraulic humanoid robot that was only intended as a technology demonstration. Unlike Spot and its warehouse logistics robot Stretch, Atlas was capable of carrying tools at a simulated construction site and doing actual work. 'For almost a decade, Atlas has sparked our imagination, inspired the next generations of roboticists, and leapt over technical barriers in the field. Now it's time for our hydraulic Atlas robot to kick back and relax,' the company said.

Korea Herald

12-06-2025

Entertainment
Korea Herald

[Photo News] Dancing robots

Boston Dynamics' four-legged industrial surveillance robot Spot dazzled the audience and judges at this year's America's Got Talent by performing a group dancing act. Five Spots carried out synchronized choreography as they moved their legs and bodies to the tune of "Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen while using their robot arms to lip-sync the lyrics of the song. The robots, which are developed by Hyundai Motor-backed Boston Dynamics, received unanimous "yes" votes from the four judges to advance to the next stage. (Screen capture from America's Got Talent YouTube channel)

Robots run out of energy long before they run out of work to do

Qatar Tribune

07-06-2025

Science
Qatar Tribune

Robots run out of energy long before they run out of work to do

Agencies Earlier this year, a robot completed a half-marathon in Beijing in just under 2 hours and 40 minutes. That's slower than the human winner, who clocked in at just over an hour – but it's still a remarkable feat. Many recreational runners would be proud of that time. The robot kept its pace for more than 13 miles (21 kilometers). But it didn't do so on a single charge. Along the way, the robot had to stop and have its batteries swapped three times. That detail, while easy to overlook, speaks volumes about a deeper challenge in robotics: energy. Modern robots can move with incredible agility, mimicking animal locomotion and executing complex tasks with mechanical precision. In many ways, they rival biology in coordination and efficiency. But when it comes to endurance, robots still fall short. They don't tire from exertion – they simply run out of power. As a robotics researcher focused on energy systems, I study this challenge closely. How can researchers give robots the staying power of living creatures – and why are we still so far from that goal? Though most robotics research into the energy problem has focused on better batteries, there is another possibility: Build robots that eat. Modern robots are remarkably good at moving. Thanks to decades of research in biomechanics, motor control and actuation, machines such as Boston Dynamics' Spot and Atlas can walk, run and climb with an agility that once seemed out of reach. In some cases, their motors are even more efficient than animal muscles. But endurance is another matter. Spot, for example, can operate for just 90 minutes on a full charge. After that, it needs nearly an hour to recharge. These runtimes are a far cry from the eight- to 12-hour shifts expected of human workers – or the multiday endurance of sled dogs. The issue isn't how robots move – it's how they store energy. Most mobile robots today use lithium-ion batteries, the same type found in smartphones and electric cars. These batteries are reliable and widely available, but their performance improves at a slow pace: Each year new lithium-ion batteries are about 7% better than the previous generation. At that rate, it would take a full decade to merely double a robot's runtime. Animals store energy in fat, which is extraordinarily energy dense: nearly 9 kilowatt-hours per kilogram. That's about 68 kWh total in a sled dog, similar to the energy in a fully charged Tesla Model 3. Lithium-ion batteries, by contrast, store just a fraction of that, about 0.25 kilowatt-hours per kilogram. Even with highly efficient motors, a robot like Spot would need a battery dozens of times more powerful than today's to match the endurance of a sled dog. And recharging isn't always an option. In disaster zones, remote fields or on long-duration missions, a wall outlet or a spare battery might be nowhere in sight. In some cases, robot designers can add more batteries. But more batteries mean more weight, which increases the energy required to move. In highly mobile robots, there's a careful balance between payload, performance and endurance. For Spot, for example, the battery already makes up 16% of its weight. Some robots have used solar panels, and in theory these could extend runtime, especially for low-power tasks or in bright, sunny environments. But in practice, solar power delivers very little power relative to what mobile robots need to walk, run or fly at practical speeds. That's why energy harvesting like solar panels remains a niche solution today, better suited for stationary or ultra-low-power robots. These aren't just technical limitations. They define what robots can do. A rescue robot with a 45-minute battery might not last long enough to complete a search. A farm robot that pauses to recharge every hour can't harvest crops in time. Even in warehouses or hospitals, short runtimes add complexity and cost. If robots are to play meaningful roles in society assisting the elderly, exploring hazardous environments and working alongside humans, they need the endurance to stay active for hours, not minutes. New battery chemistries such as lithium-sulfur and metal-air offer a more promising path forward. These systems have much higher theoretical energy densities than today's lithium-ion cells. Some approach levels seen in animal fat. When paired with actuators that efficiently convert electrical energy from the battery to mechanical work, they could enable robots to match or even exceed the endurance of animals with low body fat. But even these next-generation batteries have limitations. Many are difficult to recharge, degrade over time or face engineering hurdles in real-world systems.

robots and AI help humans exist in future cities at the venice architecture biennale 2025

Business Mayor

11-05-2025

Science
Business Mayor

robots and AI help humans exist in future cities at the venice architecture biennale 2025

At the Arsenale of the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 , robots and AI exist for and with humans, a glimpse at everyday life in future cities. These humanoids and robotics at the international exhibition , which runs until November 23rd, display their growing role in reshaping how structures and wearables are designed, built, and used, both on Earth and in space. They support human exploration and survival out of Earth, form part of construction tasks, and bear systems that allow them to adapt to the environment and collaborate with humans to perform different tasks. Take the BioSuit by Dava Newman and Guillermo Trotti. It's a 3D textile framework built with computational design and fiber integration, tailored to everyone's body dimensions. It has wearable sensors and actuators, thermal protection, radiation shielding, and active materials for compression. The suit is designed to support astronaut activity on the Moon and Mars. It even comes with real-time mission planning and metabolic monitoring to combine astronaut data with environmental inputs and guide the astronauts with their exploration. Positioned next to this suit at the Arsenale, visitors see the Lunar Ark by IVAAIU City. Another application of robotics in space development, it depicts a data center on the Moon using robotic systems. The goal is to mitigate risks related to climate change on Earth by storing critical data off-planet. The robots come in by assembling the archive infrastructure and carry out the system updates using optical laser communication. For the exhibition, the design team places a robot arm on top of Boston Dynamics' robot dog, Spot. BioSuit by Dava Newman and Guillermo Trotti | image © designboom Machines 'help' humans, not replace them Robots and AI only take up a part of the Arsenale at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025, but it's enough to announce and remind people of their growing presence in people's lives and the architecture industry. Bjarke Ingels Group, Laurian Ghinitolu, and Arata Mori, for example, present an installation where traditional Bhutanese woodworking is helped by a robotic arm. This six-meter, diamond-shaped wooden beam is partially carved by a human and partially by a robot using AI. The case isn't to show that robots will replace humans. Instead, the installation demonstrates how we can fire up the robots for help, shouldering some of our workload. There's another pair of robots and AI at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 that exhibits how machines and humans can work together. That's CO-POIESIS by Philip F. Yuan and Bin He. Here, the duo built a temporary pavilion for the two robots, made from salvaged timber and with robotic fabrication. The large structure hosts two wired robots with sensors: the one at the front plays the steelpan drum, while the one behind dances. Outside the installation, there's another steelpan drum that visitors play. Once they do, the robot hits the same drum that the visitors strike, and soon enough, the second robot begins to dance. Lunar Ark by IVAAIU City | image courtesy of IVAAIU City Humanoids can gain self-awareness over time Can robots and AI gain self-awareness? During the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025, the installation Am I A Strange Loop? by Takashi Ikegami and Luc Steels attempts to answer the question. It features a humanoid robot called Alter3. It doesn't have skin around its body, but the machine has a face and two hands, sculpted from clay-like material. The design team installs systems for perception, motion control, memory, and language processing. Read More Paint by Blēo among six new products on Dezeen Showroom This means that Alter3 can converse with visitors and move its hands and head as it talks using language models. There's also Machine Mosaic by Daniela Rus, demonstrating the use of a humanoid robot in bricklaying and mosaic assembly. It has a computer vision system that enables the robot to sense and interpret its surroundings. Because of this, it can translate what it sees into action, mimicking it even. During the exhibition, the robot repeatedly assembles and dismantles components, showing how robotics can perform structured building tasks. the installation significantly depicts a data center on the Moon using robotic systems | image © designboom The experiment looks into robotic self-awareness. Researchers believe can develop when feedback loops connect a robot's outputs to its inputs, creating a recursive cycle. These robots and AI at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 still mirror the already growing sphere of the machinery in space, architecture, Earth, and human lives. Whether helping astronaut performance, constructing lunar facilities, assisting with craftsmanship, or testing theories of consciousness, robotics, and the people behind them, try to expand the boundaries of design, construction, and space exploration. These machines take on more functions in both land and extraterrestrial environments, and the international exhibition, which runs until November 23rd, 2025, spotlights the relationship between human activity and robotic support that's becoming interdependent. Ancient Future: Bridging Bhutan's Tradition and Innovation by Bjarke Ingels Group, Laurian Ghinitolu, and Arata Mori | image courtesy of BIG traditional Bhutanese woodworking evidently helped by a robotic arm | image © designboom CO-POIESIS by Philip F. Yuan and Bin He | image © designboom