Or how Spot, the robot explorer from Boston Dynamics, practices a strange mix of genres, as a deliveryman of Adidas sneakers in the villas of stars and a robotic assistant, during military exercises in Brittany.
By Ludmilla Intravaia
Spot and his acolytes, Atlas and Handle, had already stood out, on December 29, in a video showing the three robots of Boston Dynamics swinging their hips on Do You Love Me, one of the film Dirty Dancing iconic songs, in 1987 (more info in this Boudoir Numérique article). Following this buzz from the American robotics company on the interweb, the talent as dancers of the trio of accomplices was no longer to be demonstrated.
Since then, Spot has decided to play it solo, bringing out its qualities as the ultimate Swiss army knife, in a mix of genres that leaves, let's face it, perplexed. In fact, last February, the canine-inspired quadruped participated in the marketing campaign to launch the collaboration between the sports brand Adidas and the American rapper Pharrell William, Pharrell x Adidas NMD HU Cream (images below : Adidas).
Spot notably delivered pairs of limited edition NMD HU Cream sneakers in the United States to the rapper Pusha T and the footballer David Beckham.
Discover the robot Spot in this video of the website Hypebeast about Pharrell William.
But the robotic dog does not limit its movements and activities to the simple heavenly setting of celebrity villas, it is ready to explore more rugged terrain. Thus, the regional French daily Ouest France (see here) followed, on March 30 and 31, military exercises of the École Militaire Interarmes (EMIA), one of the schools of the French army, to which Spot participated as a robotic assistant, on the military camp of Coëtquidan, in Brittany.
Screenshot of the article published on March 31, 2021 by the French daily Ouest France and entitled "Quand l'EMIA part au combat avec des robots terrestres dont le nouveau ULTRO de Nexter" ("When the EMIA goes into battle with ground robots including the new ULTRO from Nexter") - screenshot taken on April 12, 2021 (©Ouest France)
Maneuvers intended to study "the robotization of the battlefield" to "make students aware of the challenges of tomorrow", one could read, on April 6, on the Twitter account (see here) of Les Ecoles de Saint-Cyr Coëtquidan (ESCC), training establishments for officers of the French army.
Photo of Boston Dynamics' robot dog, Spot, during military maneuvers in March 2021 in Brittany, published on April 6, 2021 on the Saint-Cyr Coëtquidan Twitter account (@SaintCyrCoet) - screenshot taken on April 12, 2021 (© SaintCyrCoet / Twitter )
Between military maneuvers and fashion tech marketing campaigns, it’s a strange splits for this robot, intended for inspection and data capture tasks, that raises questions about its future use, for instance by the American website on technology The Verge, in an article published on April 7. But only as far as Spot is up to its possible military tasks. While he was successful in delivering a few pairs of Adidas sneakers to their recipients, Spot "found himself short of energy in the midst of the assault", reports Ouest France. Hopefully, before Terminator comes to deliver a little black dress to Sarah Connor, there is still some way to go.
* Continue reading with these following Boudoir Numérique articles :
- Do You Love Me - Are Boston Dynamics' dancing robots the new John Travolta of 2021?
- Milan FW SS21 - Articulated arms of a raclette robot at Philipp Plein
- Yolandi Visser, pleasure android in Future Baby from Die Antwoord
- NYFW SS20 : Rag & Bone’s robotic experience
- The most techy sets of Chanel fashion shows
- Do Lovot Dream of Electric Fashion?
- Fembots and Sci-Fi at Dior : decoding 101
- 1/3 - "Fashion can no longer look down on geeks and tech"
- Fashion queen Gigi Goode impersonates Sophia, the top model robot