IEEE Spectrum host Evan Ackerman talks with choreographer Monica Thomas and robotics researcher Amy LaViers about robot dance, their work with Boston Dynamics and the RAD Lab, and what movement can teach robotics.
Thomas describes getting involved after Boston Dynamics founder Marc Raibert asked whether Spot could dance. She and the team began by shaping moves from Spot’s existing motions, then developed choreography for Atlas, Spot, and Handle in “Do You Love Me?” The video drew 37 million views, a scale Thomas found difficult to grasp.
LaViers says dance and engineering felt like fields that already intersected in her own interests. She argues that functional and expressive movement are integrated, rather than competing goals. Thomas and LaViers also discuss how viewers project meaning onto robots, and how choreography can shape those reactions.
LaViers describes the RAD Lab’s aim as making work together, rather than having dancers serve robotics projects or engineers serve dance projects. The lab treats artists and engineers as co-authors and collaborators, with contributions credited from the start. Thomas says she raises attribution before drafting papers and includes everyone’s names early.
Thomas explains that the mashed potato and twist moves created friction because the robots’ feet had to roll against the floor. In early twist attempts, Atlas’s leg angles made its movement look like a diapered wiggle. Adjusting those angles took more than a month and helped the movement read as a twist.
LaViers says body-based intelligence can help engineers test how a movement strategy feels and reveal alternatives. She recalls a quadruped gait discussion that her lab might explore by getting on all fours and trying the pattern. Thomas adds that choreographers can help engineers describe and correct movement that looks wrong.
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A Boston Dynamics Prototype Operations team member explains how the company builds and improves Atlas, from precision machining through assembly and testing, alongside its engineers.
Boston Dynamics engineers discuss the design, simulation, and dexterity of Atlas’s new hands.
Boston Dynamics’ robotics team discusses Atlas’s path to industrial work at Hyundai Motor Group’s Robotics Metaplant Application Center, with a host visiting the facility.
The Atlas Director of Robot Behavior at Boston Dynamics talks with NEXT host John Koetsier about Atlas’s design, robot intelligence, factory integration, and why legs can suit industrial work.
Chris Thorn, Atlas hardware team lead at Boston Dynamics, discusses the new Atlas design with industrial designers Aaron Abroff and James Kucera at Boston Dynamics.
Zack Jackowski, Atlas development lead at Boston Dynamics, and company researchers discuss training humanoid robots for factory work; Demis Hassabis of Google DeepMind explores AI’s capabilities and risks; Palmer Luckey of Anduril describes autonomous weapons; and artists and engineers in Carrara debate robots in sculpture.
