HardwareMeet Sparkles, otherwise known as Boston Dynamics' Spot in a big blue fluffy dog suitWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
HardwareMeet Sparkles, otherwise known as Boston Dynamics' Spot in a big blue fluffy dog suitWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Sparkles is the name, and it’s a custom costume “designed just for Spot, to explore the intersections of robotics, art, and entertainment”. Or in this case, an excuse to play dress up with a robot that usually looks like something you might see in games likeAtomic Heartattempting to rend you limb from limb.
Alright, it’s cute, I’ll give you that. And while the Sparkles suit is definitely an attempt to put a friendlier face on a mechanical marvel, the company has alsoreleased a blog postdetailing how its “Choreographer” software allows non-technical users to create dances without being intimately familiar with how the exact systems contained in Spot work.
The software makes use of a timeline feature that will be somewhat familiar to anyone who’s done a bit of audio or video editing, and reduces the complexities of advanced movement down to placeable “blocks”, that can be added in sequence to create a complicated-looking routine.
Boston Dynamics also has plans to release an animation API in an upcoming version of the software that allows users to create custom sequences of movements using 3D animation tools and integrate them into Choreographer scripts, so expect to see many more videos of Spot dancing the Fandango, although what cuddly suit it’ll be clad in next time remains to be seen.
Still, it’s infinitely preferable to dressing up Boston Dynamics' latest creation, themore than slightly terrifying new Atlas bot. I don’t care if you put it in a suit and tie and make it do Fred Astaire’s routine fromSingin' in the Rain. It’s still a horror movie creation, and no sequence of complicated dance moves or costuming can convince me otherwise.
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Best CPU for gaming: Top chips from Intel and AMD.Best gaming motherboard: The right boards.Best graphics card: Your perfect pixel-pusher awaits.Best SSD for gaming: Get into the game first.
Best CPU for gaming: Top chips from Intel and AMD.Best gaming motherboard: The right boards.Best graphics card: Your perfect pixel-pusher awaits.Best SSD for gaming: Get into the game first.
Best CPU for gaming: Top chips from Intel and AMD.Best gaming motherboard: The right boards.Best graphics card: Your perfect pixel-pusher awaits.Best SSD for gaming: Get into the game first.
Best CPU for gaming: Top chips from Intel and AMD.Best gaming motherboard: The right boards.Best graphics card: Your perfect pixel-pusher awaits.Best SSD for gaming: Get into the game first.
Best CPU for gaming: Top chips from Intel and AMD.Best gaming motherboard: The right boards.Best graphics card: Your perfect pixel-pusher awaits.Best SSD for gaming: Get into the game first.
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