Hyundai welcomes Spot the robot dog to the family

Wednesday, 30 June 2021

Hyundai has finalised its purchase of Boston Dynamic and has welcomed Spot (left) and Atlas (right) into the family with a new video.

To celebrate the completion of Hyundai Motor Group’s acquisition of Boston Dynamics the company has released a new video welcoming Spot the robot dog to the family using brand ambassadors and K-pop sensations BTS. And you probably guessed by now that means more dancing robots.

The Hyundai Motor Group is the parent company of carmakers Hyundai and Kia, and recently completed the acquisition of a controlling interest in Boston Dynamics following the receipt of regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions, in a deal that valued the mobile robot firm at US$1.1 billion.

“With the acquisition of Boston Dynamics, Hyundai Motor will expand its new robotics business to provide customers with exciting mobility experiences,” said Thomas Schemera, Executive Vice President and Global Chief Marketing Officer at Hyundai Motor.

“We look forward to exploring new marketing opportunities to communicate with millennials and Gen Z, in particular, about the enormous potential offered by Hyundai’s new robotics in daily life, enabling progress for humanity.”

**READ MORE:

Spot, a robotic dog created by US company Boston Dynamics, has been stretching his legs on New Zealand farms.

* Could there be a dancing robot in your future Hyundai?

* Robots that can walk are now striding to market

* Robot dog Spot herds sheep on NZ farm

* People freaked out after robot dogs opened a door

Which we are desperately hoping means a robot dog in every car. But in the meantime we get more dancing robots, via the collaboration with BTS.

In the video, called “Welcome to the Family with BTS,” Boston Dynamic’s robots Spot and Atlas dance with BTS to their song Ioniq: I’m On It, which was released last year to mark the launch of Hyundai Motor’s dedicated electric vehicle brand, Ioniq.

The video shows how Boston Dynamic’s robots are programmed to conduct physical movements and–in this case–adapt them for dancing.

While the dancing videos are all a bit cheesy and clichéd (Boston Dynamics has released a number over the years) they do show off the robot’s impressive abilities; the fluid movements of Spot are impressive, but more even impressive is how the two-legged humanoid robot Atlas balances itself.

And they are definitely a damn sight better than Boston Dynamic’s earlier video demonstrations that saw ‘Big Dog’ hauling military equipment over rough terrain, ‘Petman’ testing ominous-looking chemical protection suits, ‘Cheetah’ sprinting at 45kmh and even Spot himself creepily opening doors like a Velociraptor from Jurassic Park– it was all too easy to imagine one running you down in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, or opening your bedroom door at night to murder you in your sleep, thus kicking off the inevitable the war between humans and robots…

The Hyundai Motor Group says the field of robotics is an important area of business development for the company – it has previously dabbled in robotics with a wearable robot that supports production line workers, as well as an ‘Electric Vehicle Charging Manipulator’ – so a friendly, dancing public face is far preferable to a soulless murder-bot vibe.

And Spot is far more loveable when he is twerking.