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Russian State TV Shows Off 'Robot' That's Actually a Man In a Robot Suit (gizmodo.com)

A "hi-tech robot" shown on Russian state television turns out to be a man in a suit. While airing footage of a technology forum aimed at kids, a Russian state TV reporter proclaimed that Boris the robot "has already learned to dance and he's not that bad." Gizmodo reports: This "robot" actually retails for 250,000 rubles (about $3,770), as first reported by the Guardian, and is made by a company called Show Robots. "Boris" features glowing eyes, and plastic parts -- and shockingly human-like movements. Probably because he needs a human inside to operate properly. This faux-robot (fauxbot?) mystery was actually first unraveled when some eagled-eyed Russian viewers on the internet noticed that a suspiciously human-like neck was showing in the video. The report notes that "there's no indication" that there was intent to deceive anyone. Instead, it "appears to be a case of a TV presenter getting confused with what he believed to be 'modern robots.'" You can watch the broadcast on Russia-24's YouTube channel.

14 of 120 comments (clear)

  1. Thank you very much by PopeRatzo · · Score: 4, Funny

    We are now living in an Andy Kaufman sketch.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
    1. Re:Thank you very much by ISnortFatCashews · · Score: 2, Interesting

      That is a pretty far fetched conspiracy theory, fella. It is even CRAZIER than this one...

      Stormtroopers didn't kill Luke's aunt and uncle

      Pretty iconic, right? Luke's lifelong home is destroyed, his aunt and uncle murdered. All he's left with is fuel for his rage against the Empire. But isn't it a little weird to think that Stormtroopers did this? I get that the Empire was looking for R2-D2 and C-3PO, and that they'd be more than willing to trash someone's home to get what they want. But what they did to Luke's guardians seems a tad dramatic.

      People in Star Wars get their arms chopped off, blown up in space and thrown into alien sand vaginas, but there's no one else in any of the movies who gets it worse than Owen and Beru Lars, including the asshole who gets his legs chopped off before getting his nubs dipped in piping hot magma. Seriously, a blaster couldn't do that -- their flesh is completely vaporized. I don't know anyone that ruthless. Do you?

      Oh, right. According to the scenes added in the Special Editions, this dude was on Tatooine at the time of the murders. Looking at the evidence, it's completely possible that Boba Fett killed Luke's aunt and uncle. For one, we're well aware that the Empire is willing to outsource their jobs to bounty hunters.

      In this classic scene, Vader is outlining the bounty stipulations for a handful of mercenaries, emphasizing the importance of capturing the heroes alive. Darth makes a point to turn and point at Boba Fett, talking down to him as though he was lecturing a toddler.

      You don't point at someone and say that unless they've been caught doing it before. Boba Fett has such a rep for disintegrations that word got all the way up to the #2 seat in the Empire. Dudes like Boba Fett are the reason there are signs at multi-level grocery stores that say "NO CARTS ON THE ESCALATORS" -- you know some dickbag spilled ten pounds of kale all over the machinery before Trader Joe's started putting those warnings up. It stands to reason that the guy known for disintegrations was responsible for the most prominent disintegrations in the original trilogy.

      But maybe Boba Fett wouldn't have been around to immolate Owen and Beru if Obi-Wan hadn't chosen the worst possible planet to hide Darth Vader's son. Then again, maybe it was the last place anyone would look...

    2. Re:Thank you very much by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Funny

      I can't help but it feels more like the world is turning into a Monty Python skit, complete with Terry Gilliam's art. I'm honestly waiting for a large, naked foot to stomp me.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  2. But by nospam007 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Can he spread fake news, like a real Russian bot?

  3. job opportunity by sheramil · · Score: 3, Funny

    This "robot" actually retails for 250,000 rubles (about $3,770), as first reported by the Guardian, and is made by a company called Show Robots.

    Does it come with a human inside? This might be the only employment open to anyone in the future.

    1. Re: job opportunity by Type44Q · · Score: 3, Funny

      $3,770 for my own personal Russian slave sounds pretty cheap.

      Until you open it up for service and discover an angry, thick-ankled babushka with a vodka habit...

    2. Re: job opportunity by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 2

      $3,770 for my own personal Russian slave sounds pretty cheap.

      Until you open it up for service and discover an angry, thick-ankled babushka with a vodka habit...

      Who says that wasn't what I was hoping for?

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
  4. The Turk by grep+-v+'.*'+* · · Score: 2

    Link

    Been there, done that. (Well, read about it anyway.)

    "The Turk, also known as the Mechanical Turk or Automaton Chess Player was a fake chess-playing machine constructed in the late 18th century. From 1770 until its destruction by fire in 1854 ... the mechanism appeared to be able to play a strong game of chess against a human opponent

    The Turk was in fact a mechanical illusion that allowed a human chess master hiding inside to operate the machine."

    But I bet he couldn't dance worth a Pawn.

    --
    If the universe is someone's simulation -- does that mean the stars are just stuck pixels?
  5. It's like an old joke coming to life by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Funny

    Where the Soviets showcase the glorious developments of Russian ingenuity in an international display of new appliances, where they demo a potato peeling machine. Demonstrating it to the politburo, the inventor picks up a potato from a bucket, throws it into the machine and a few seconds of working very quietly later, a peeled potato is thrown out of the machine. An apparatchik is overwhelmed with joy, takes the bucket and dumps it into the machine, which prompts a rustling and a small door opens where an old babushka looks out and cries "Please, not so many, I'm alone this week".

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    1. Re:It's like an old joke coming to life by Opportunist · · Score: 2

      Well, technically, the Soviet "Human first" doesn't count either because he didn't land together with his capsule, which was required for the "first" to count. So yes, that's cheated, too.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  6. Seriously by Dunbal · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's a kids show. Here's a spoiler for you - the big purple dinosaur called Barney is also (gasp!) a dude in a suit.

    --
    Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
  7. Translated for Fox/CNN by monkeyxpress · · Score: 3, Funny

    How is this a news story? It needs to be put through the hype distortion machine first:

    In breaking news, the Russians have HACKED a robotics conference to plant FAKE robots. At a time when western nations faces the grave threat of EXTINCTION by the rise of machines, this sort of DECEPTION could only mean we have entered a dangerous new period of RUSSIAN artificial INTELLIGENCE operations.

    There, fixed.

  8. What's next? by Plus1Entropy · · Score: 5, Funny

    Humans pretending to be Russian robots?

    What's next, Russian bots pretending to be human?

    --
    Only crack the nuts that crack. You don't put the ones that don't crack in the sack.
  9. Presume guilt by mi · · Score: 2

    let me get this straight, this story is nothing more than a tv presenter getting confused at a kids tech forum?
    why is it on slashdot?

    Because the denials of the intent to deceive are just as ridiculously fake as most of the rest of what's on Russia's state-owned TV.

    If it comes from a Russian — especially, a government-connected Russian — it is more likely to be false than true and any presumptions and doubt ought to be in that direction.

    --
    In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.