Image Credit: YouTube 
A new video from DARPA-funded Boston Dynamics shows the company’s fleet of robots performing a dance routine that would be cute if it wasn’t so terrifying.
In the video released Tuesday, a pair of human-esque Atlas robots, along with the company’s dog-like “Spot” robot, perform an impressive choreographed dance to The Contours’ “Do You Love Me?” They’re later joined by the company’s two-wheeled, box-stacking robot, “Handle.”
The robots’ dance moves appear so flawless that many questioned whether CGI (computer-generated imagery) was used to produce the video.
Despite the company’s efforts to portray the robots as friendly and useful to society, many commenters on YouTube claimed to be terrified of the humanoids who will possibly one day turn against humanity – as prophesied by University of Sheffield professor of artificial intelligence and robotics Noel Sharkey.
“It’s an incredible technical achievement, but it’s unfortunate that it’s going to be used to kill people,” Sharkey told the BBC in 2012 describing the Boston Dynamic’s “Cheetah” robot, which at the time had set a new record for outpacing the fastest human, Usain Bolt.
“It’s going to be used for chasing people across the desert, I would imagine. I can’t think of many civilian applications – maybe for hunting, or farming, for rounding up sheep.”
“But of course if it’s used for combat, it would be killing civilians as well as it’s not going to be able to discriminate between civilians and soldiers.”
Robot Guard Dog Patrols Governor’s Mansion As Patriots Protest