As you may have heard, RoMeLa has recently contributed to the proliferation of America’s favorite Korean pop sensation. On October 19th last year, RoMeLaVT uploaded a video of CHARLI-2 dancing to Psy’s Gangnam Style.
CHARLI appears more coordinated and seems to have more rhythm than some humans. Every movement goes on the beat, and although the dance is over before the song, the result is undeniably charming. For one, two signature moves from the original music video – lasso-twirling and horse-riding – are incorporated. Second, CHARLI occasionally dances like a happy baby, bouncing up and down on its legs. The finale in particular is adorable: CHARLI blows kisses and takes a bow.
If anything, the performance demonstrates CHARLI’s coordination, balance, and versatility, as well as the programming skills of the RoMeLa students.
The video now has over one million views. Although this is not CHARLI’s greatest accomplishment, nor RoMeLa’s greatest technological feat, the video has probably led to greater publicity for the robot, the lab, and Virginia Tech.
CHARLI-2 was named the “2011 Best Invention of the Year” by Time magazine and won numerous awards at RoboCup 2011. He is currently being treated as a preliminary robot for the Navy’s future Shipboard Autonomous Firefighting Robot project.
Avery Nelson is a Sophomore in Materials Science & Engineering.
