Boris, the hi-tech Russian robot, was really a man in a suit
A Russian robot named Boris that appeared on national television to showcase the country’s technological progress turned out to be a man in a suit.
Television network Russia 24 praised the robot for its ability to speak and dance. However, many viewers were not convinced as Boris was more flexible and possessed more human-like behaviour than your average AI robot.
According to Sky News, bloggers and journalists pointed out human-like gestures and movements that the robot made during the broadcast.
Footage of an artificial intelligence robot that Russian state television used as an example of the country's technological prowess has been exposed as a man wearing a robot suit.
— Sky News (@SkyNews) December 13, 2018
For more on this story, head here: https://t.co/JM4wsOwXjp pic.twitter.com/GrpnBQWDRi
According to The Guardian, the man was wearing a £3,000 (about R54,000) robot costume designed by the company Show Robots. It included a microphone and a tablet display.
A picture showing the man’s neck visible in the costume was circulated on social media.
"“Robot Boris has already learned to dance and he’s not that bad”...
— PLⒶNΣT_☻f_Puppets (@audio_pervert) December 13, 2018
Anyways, who are the robots in the picture? pic.twitter.com/0qRSA4ncrL
On Twitter, there was mixed reaction.
Praising their engineering prowess, Russian state television tried to pass off a guy in a robot suit as an an actual robot earlier this week. #sticktohacking #boristherobot #veryhightech
— sarahsdailyfacts (@sarahsdailyfac1) December 13, 2018
Have you heard about the Russian Robot named Boris?
— DoSomeThinkin' (@DoThinkin) December 13, 2018
He was suppose to be the smartest, most amble robot made.
Turns out, it was Mitt Romney in a Robot Suit.
Welcome to the family, Boris!#Robots? pic.twitter.com/8CkB16uDFM
— Leonardo Flores (@Leonardo_UPRM) December 13, 2018
I’ve been bamboozled cant believe Boris the robot ain’t real pic.twitter.com/W5OBzJbTFo
— 💦✨VOSS BBY✨💦 (@MAGAZINE407) December 13, 2018
Russia used Boris the robot as a fake it till u make it way to let people think they are advanced in AI.
— Marco (@macgram23) December 14, 2018
I love Russia, but come on!!#garyvee : u always be exposed
Following the outing of #Boris the high tech #RussianRobot as “a man in a robot suit”, more “men in robots” revelations begin to emerge... pic.twitter.com/N41MZk6JZ6
— Star Wars PR (@StarWarsPR) December 13, 2018