As more and more manufacturing jobs are shipped overseas, it's nice to see that industrial robots are still finding work. Particularly when it pertains to their first love, interpretive dance, thanks to choreographer Thomas Freundlich's latest performance piece titled Human Interface.
Described as a "contemporary dance for humans and industrial robots" the performance features a choreographed routine between a couple of humans free to move across the stage, and a couple of ABB industrial robot arms bolted to the floor. And while the human performers are free to ad-lib their routines as they're emotionally inspired during a performance, the robot's movements are pre-programmed creating some kind of clever juxtaposition between man and machine. (Insert whatever commentary you want to apply here.)
Human Interface is now running at the Zodiak Centre for New Dance in Helsinki. At least until its creator finds that the minimum wage for interpretive dancers is a lot cheaper in China. [Thomas Freundlich via The Verge]