Russia is not particularly known for technological advancement, but apparently, one reporter from Russian state TV did not get that memo and got really pumped, praising a robot that appeared at a Russian state-sponsored event. The reporter commented that “(Robot Boris) has already learned to dance and he’s not that bad.” Sure, it was convincing as hell, but there is just one problem here: Boris turned out to be a man in a robot suit.
However, the biggest giveaway did not come until a picture was posted on social media and that particular image (looks like a screenshot of a video) clearly shows the neck of a person. It was really a haha moment, not because it was a fake robot since nobody, including the organizers of the Proyektoria technology forum, claim that it was a real robot, but the real hilarity here was how some people are so easily duped (namely, the reporter who covered the event).
It turns out that Robot Boris is a costume called Alyosha the robot made by a company called Show Robots. In case you are curious, this costume ain’t cheap. It sells for 250,000 rubles (or about US3,766). That’s awful lot for even for a costume, isn’t it? In any case, the event was aimed to get kids to be interested in technology (or something along the line) and the robot was there as an attraction to draw their attention, perhaps in hope to inspire them to create the real thing.
Looking at the video, I can’t help to notice the faces of some kids seem to suggest that they were quite taken into this piece of “technology” on stage. Seriously, there should be some disclaimer there, or simply just tell everyone that thing is not a real robot.
Wait. Maybe. Just maybe, Russia is covering up a humanoid the world isn’t ready for inside a robot costume? Like, who knows right?
Source: Gizmodo.
