Hyundai is welcoming its newly acquired robotics company with a dance-off between robot dogs and K-pop band BTS.
After securing a majority stake in Boston Dynamics in June, Hyundai is celebrating the acquisition by introducing its brand ambassadors and South Korea’s K-pop phenomenon, BTS, to the robot dogs through the medium of dance.
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This “celebration” comes in the form of a 77-second masterpiece called “Spot’s On It,” featuring 7 of its Spot robots performing a choreographed routine to the band’s ode to Hyundai’s EV sub-brand, “Ioniq: I’m On It.”
The dance moves were painstakingly created and prepared for detailed software programming by acclaimed dance choreographer, Monica Thomas – the same choreographer behind the “Do You Love Me” music video which also featured Boston Dynamics robots. That video went viral late last year.
“There were a lot of challenges around getting the vision of our choreographer, who’s used to dealing with human dancers, into our software,” notes Eric Whitman, a Boston Dynamics roboticist.
“Everything had to be worked out in advance and scripted precisely. Robots have the advantage over humans in that they’re very repeatable: Once you get it right, it stays right. But they have the disadvantage that you have to tell them every little detail. They don’t improvise at all.”
In addition to the above, the South Korean motor company also released a second video featuring the K-pop band meeting and dancing with the Spot dog robots. The glorious Atlas, the protagonist of the previous viral video, also makes a quick appearance in this festive clip.