Madison Who’s Who Blog

Have you noticed how many people are dancing these days? I mean, if you watched nothing but commercials, you would have to conclude that everyday, ordinary citizens break out into spontaneous dance several times during the course of their day. Maybe advertisers are practicing denial in order to counteract the daily spate of grim headlines.

Next time you watch some TV, take note of how many have dancing folks demonstrating everything from lawn mowers to sweepers to JELLO. That’s why ZMP’s dancing robot just seems like the most natural idea in the universe. Why not have an iPod dancing fool scampering around your home?

“Tokyo manufacturer ZMP insists its new Miuro is more than a shiny/weird robot that performs intricate dances in sync with songs streamed from an iPod.

The robot uses a series of algorithms to calculate movements in response to music, which the company says could be the basis for a new breed of semi-intelligent, semi-autonomous virtual pets. For now, practical applications for the $900 Miuro are pretty much limited to an alarm clock and a type of roving surveillance system using an add-on digital camera.”
(Source)