Men, your next dance will be with Ms. DanceR

[cl5814]

Jenn,

Googalitis struck me too.

Here is a comment from an article about a dancing robot. So the Taxi Dancers might be robots in the future, what do you think ?

"Japanese scientists have developed a dancing robot that can follow a human dancer's lead. Professor Kazuhiro Kosuge, leader of the Tohoku University team that developed the robot, says future versions will be able to move in sync with humans. The Ms. DanceR (Mobile Smart Dance Robot) predicts the dancer's next move through hand pressure applied to its arms and back. Equipped with a computer, sensors and batteries, it can move in any direction on four wheels and has memory for steps necessary to dance the waltz. Tomohiro Hayashi, a student of Tohoku University, demonstrated the robot by leading it through a waltz for photographers.

Why did the team pick the Waltz and not the Tango? "The robot cannot move so fast, and tango is not easy for the robot at this moment," states Kosuge. Tomohiro Hayashi, a student of Tohoku University, demonstrated the robot by leading it through a waltz for photographers.
The robot is being developed to understand human-human interaction/communication mechanism and to synthesize it as human-robot interaction. The mechanism designed for human-robot interaction could be utilized when designing man-machine systems. "

[pygmalion]

:shock: What!?! Are you suggesting I have googalitis? :wink: :lol:

[cl5814]

:D :D

No, not at all, just a hunger for knowledge.

[Genesius Redux]

I started that thread on the dancing android a while back. Looks pretty scary....

Um, can Ms DanceR, like, do anything more than, uh, dance? :wink:

[SalsaGeek]

Where is the fun in dancing with a robot? They should spend more time inventing a robot to do my dishes, wash my clothes, or mow my lawn etc. Leave the dancing to real women.

[Adwiz]

Hmmph. Show me a robot that can actually tell me where the "1" count is in the music and I might be impressed. :P

[Flat Shoes]

Where is the fun in dancing with a robot? They should spend more time inventing a robot to do my dishes, wash my clothes, or mow my lawn etc. Leave the dancing to real women.
The reason they do this is not for dancers, but for themselves. Creating a robot that can walk smoothly on two legs is a very difficult. Keeping balance, that we humans do so easily, is an extremely complex task for a robot. So making a robot that can not only stand erect, but moving smoothly and follow a leader into a waltz is a huge step for technology.

Dance is not the application at all here. It's just a task that fits the goal.

But some time in the future, dancing robots will probably appear. And then they will have application for those who have no access to a partner, but still wants to practice their lead. It's not the same as a human, but it still beats the old broom in the closet.