Boston Dynamics Spot Robot Dances With Another Spot Robot in a Custom Dog Costume Named ‘Sparkles’

In their long tradition of showcasing the slick dance moves of robots, a Boston Dynamics Spot quadruped robot performed a choreographed routine with “Sparkles”, another Spot robot in a custom dog costume. This routine premiered on April 29th which is International Dance Day. This complex routine started out with a friendly touching of noses and then alternated between the two.

Spot is meeting another strange dog and making friends through the power of dance. Meet Sparkles! Sparkles is a custom costume designed just for Spot to explore the intersections of robotics, art, and entertainment.

The coordinated routine was programmed through Choreographer, software that controls movement through Spot’s API.

Choreographer, a tool for authoring and controlling movement through Spot’s API, became available last year for customers in media and entertainment. Choreographer is designed to bridge the gap between the creative process of a traditional choreographer and the technical process of programming a robot. 

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.