“Russia’s Most Advanced Robot” Turns Out to Be Man in Robot Suit
Yesterday, during the opening of Russia’s annual “PROJECT” scientific forum in the city of Yaroslavl, the audience got to see Boris, a highly-advanced robot that major news channel Russia24 called “the country’s most modern robot”. Only Boris wasn’t really all that advanced, or even a robot, for that matter.
Very similar in appearance to Honda’s famous Asimo humanoid robot, Boris can reportedly walk and talk, do mathematical calculations and even dance, feats he demonstrated on the stage of the “PROJECT” forum, on December 11. The audience, made up primarily of young students, was blown away by the Russian robot’s advanced capabilities, as were several news outlets, including Russia24, which dedicated a news segment to Boris, showcasing his performance at the forum and calling it “Russia’s most modern robot”.
本田のアシモを彷彿とさせるロボットのボリス。自ら歩き話もするロシア最先端のロボットだといわれたのだが…実際はロボットスーツを着ているだけだだったというオチ。
With so many questions surrounding the surprise unveiling of this “advanced robot”, it didn’t really come as a surprise to anyone that Boris wasn’t actually a robot at all. A simple Google search of “robotic suit” (in Russian) revealed that the humanoid robot was really just a commercially available robot suit called the “Alesha Robot Costume“. It looks just like Boris and it can be yours for 250,000 rubles ($3,765).
40万円くらいで買えるロボット型スーツだったようです。