Partner Ballroom Dancing Robot (VIDEO)

We published this article in Devember 2005, but the video of a dude dancing with a robot is worth the update.

A little disappointed that you don’t have a date for the prom?  Show everyone how cool you are by bringing your dancing robot.  Yes, it is from Japan.  After just 6 years, a team of lonely scientists finally created their prom date.

From their website
In this project, we have proposed a dance partner robot referred to as MS DanceR, which has been developed as a platform for realizing effective human-robot coordination with physical interaction. MS DanceR consists of an omni-directional mobile base to realize various dance steps in a ballroom dance and the force/torque sensor referred to as Body Force Sensor to realize compliant physical interaction between the MS DanceR and a human based on the force/moment applied to the human.

CNN’s Take on it:
Those with two left feet may soon be able to take ballroom dancing lessons from a partner with three wheels
The world’s first ballroom-dancing robot is set to take to the floor for its first public performance this week at the World Expo 2005 in Aichi, Japan.
Developed by scientists at Tokhuro University, the Partner Ballroom Dance Robot (PBDR) is able to predict the steps of a human partner based on body movement and react accordingly on its three wheels. The 1.65 meter robot has a female face, wears a ballgown and comes in bright pink and pastel blue plastic. A male version is also being developed.