Boston Dynamics’ robot dog dances to ‘Uptown Funk’

Boston Dynamics’ robot
dog, SpotMini.
Boston
Dynamics/YouTube

• Boston Dynamics released a video of its SpotMini robot
  dancing to “Uptown Funk.”
• SpotMini has previously wowed the internet with its
  ability to open doors.
• While the dance is entertaining, Boston Dynamics kept
  quiet — as it often does — about how the robot managed to learn
  its moves.

Boston Dynamics continues to crank out viral-worthy videos of its
robots busting strange and unexpected moves.

The robotics company formerly owned by Google released on Tuesday
a new video of its dog-like SpotMini robot dancing to a cover of
Mark Ronson’s “Uptown Funk.” It even pulls off the robot-dog
equivalent to a moonwalk.

Previously SpotMini has gone viral for
opening doors for its robot comrades.

You can watch Spotmini throwing some shapes
here:

Boston Dynamics released no information to accompany the video,
so it’s entirely possible that Spotmini has been pre-programmed
to dance.

After a video was released last week of the company’s
Atlas robot “doing parkour,” tech journalist Hal Hodson said
Boston Dynamics is quite opaque on the subject of just how
autonomous its robots are.

Robots who can sense a beat and dance accordingly do exist:

ETH Zurich’s ANYmal robot, for example, has been filmed grooving
out to a U2 cover.