Princeton students go viral teaching a Boston Dynamics robot dance moves, amassing over 7 million TikTok views.
In a course titled “Robots in Human Ecology,” Princeton students explore civilian use cases for the expensive robot Spot. In one such case, the students taught Spot line-dancing and ballet routines, resulting in over 7 million views across half a dozen TikTok videos, which have sparked conversations about the potential of robotics in entertainment and education.
“Some asked ‘what does the robot eat?’ Well, it doesn’t, you just stick it on your charger, like the docking station. I explained to them it’s a lot like your phone, or your video game controller,” said Vasumathi Venkat, a junior majoring in electrical and computer engineering.
The students also discuss the potential roles, meanings, and ethics of robots in society, gaining hands-on experience manipulating the robot to develop ethically-sound and community-engaged applications on campus.
Led by Alexander Glaser, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and international affairs, and Ryo Morimoto, assistant professor of anthropology and the Richard Stockton Bicentennial Preceptor, the course is made possible by the 250th Anniversary Fund for Innovation in Undergraduate Education.
According to Morimoto, while Boston Dynamics has a complicated history with the military, now it is trying to move away and focus more on civilian and commercial applications of its technology.
“Although the company was heavily funded by the military initially, it currently tries to move away from it with its anti-weaponization policy,” he told PCMag.
In the Spot-light
A student team’s project gained popularity on social media as they created a TikTok account for the robot called “SPOTlight,” sharing musical videos featuring Spot. In a video garnering 4.5 million views, student Gigi Schadrack line dances with the robot in a lab, both jumping up on cue, while in another video with 1.4 million views, she ballet dances with the robot.
For Schadrack, the TikTok videos are part of an effort to demystify robotics, gather data, entertain, and engage audiences in discussions about interactions between humans and robots.
“As a dancer, I wanted to explore how bipedal movements could be translated to a quadruped,” Schadrack explained.
Wasif Sami, another student, conducted an anthropological analysis of the project and its reception by the public.
“A gift of going viral meant eliciting a wide range of comments and replies. As a group, we grappled with how our playful, performative content exists in dialogue with higher-stakes impacts of technology. Navigating our audience reaction taught us to consciously situate our work amidst the many uses of robots, as well as to listen openly to the discordant, plural voices on the internet,” Sami said.
Around 1,000 Spot robots were in use globally as of last year, primarily for industrial purposes such as Ford’s. While Boston Dynamics doesn’t currently list the cost of a Spot robot on its website, in 2020, it was priced at nearly $75,000.
The main purpose of Spot, as described by Boston Dynamics’ lead product designer, Leland Hepler, is to reduce human fear and increase comfort with the robot. This is achieved through a variety of visual cues, such as its bright yellow color, directional light signals to help anticipate Spot’s movements, and its dog-like quadruped form.
Here is the link of story , https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/students-teach-robot-dance-moves?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=article_image