South Korean scientists have created and tested a humanoid robot that is not only capable of running and walking, but also of replicating Michael Jackson's iconic dance moves. The development was presented by researchers from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), who released a video of the tests. This is reported by Interesting Engineering, writes UNN.
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The robot quite successfully replicated the "moonwalk" - Michael Jackson's dance move. It also showed that it can run at a speed of 2.6–3.3 m/s, and demonstrated a complex "duck walk" with deep knee bends. The humanoid does not lose its balance even after pushes, and during "blind" tests, it confidently overcomes obstacles and stairs without the help of cameras or vision sensors.
According to The Chosun Daily, the humanoid was designed to resemble an adult human, 165 centimeters tall and weighing 75 kilograms. It can overcome obstacles such as curbs, stairs, and height differences of up to 30 centimeters.
Its movements are controlled by artificial intelligence, trained using a reinforcement learning algorithm in a virtual environment. This allowed developers to overcome the typical barrier between simulations and reality.
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The results will be presented at two leading scientific forums – CoRL 2025, which will take place on September 29, and Humanoids 2025 – which will be held on October 1. In the future, researchers plan to teach the robot to combine movement with manipulation – for example, climbing a ladder or pushing carts, to make it useful in industrial settings.