A “hi-tech” robot shown off on Russian state TV for his abilities to walk, talk and dance turned out to be a man in a nearly $4,000 costume.
A reporter on Russia-24 lauded the state-of-the-art “Robot Boris” during coverage of a robotics forum for kids Wednesday, boasting that he’s “already learned to dance and he’s not that bad,” The Guardian UK reported.
“I know mathematics well, but I also want to learn to draw,” Boris said in a robotic-sounding voice, before breaking into a dance to a song by the Russian band Little Big.
But eagle-eyed bloggers questioned the nuts and bolts of the performance.
The Russian website TJournal listed a series of queries about the ersatz robot’s presentation, including why he made so many “unnecessary movements” and where his external sensors were.
Later, photographs emerged showing the very obvious neckline of the person inside the suit — proving the robot wasn’t actually a feat of artificial intelligence.
Boris turned out to be an “Alyosha the Robot” costume made by the company Show Robots that costs around $3,700 and is equipped with a microphone and tablet display.
The organizers of the annual Proyektoria forum maintained that they weren’t trying to pass off the robot as real.
A journalist for the state-owned news channel denied trying to mislead viewers, saying he was sure that people would know it was a costume, like Santa Claus, and that the project was created for children, the Telegraph UK reported.
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