Russia’s First AI-Powered Robot Face Plants on Stage Immediately After Its Unveiling

If AI is going to deplete the planet's precious resources, it should at least be functional, right? While some researchers are harnessing AI's capabilities to attempt to better the world, it appears that a team of Russian tech bros built an AI-powered humanoid robot that was a failure almost immediately following its unveiling.

If you have not yet seen the video of the Russian robot face-planting on stage during its not-so-grand unveiling, you are missing out.

Below, we discuss the background of the video depicting a Russian AI-powered robot falling on stage at its unveiling. If you enjoy fail videos and seeing all the ways in which a hyped product fails during its launch, this story is most definitely for you.

As the BBC reports, a Russian AI-powered anthropomorphic robot, cleverly named "AIdol," fell down on stage mere seconds after its unveiling at a technology event in Moscow, Russia.

The humanoid robot was immediately dragged backstage by employees while stagehands scrambled in their attempts to put up a black curtain to block the viewing of the embarrassing failure.

While the musical theme to the movie Rocky is immediately recognizable for most viewers, and is befitting of a grandiose entrance for a cocksure entrant, what makes the video all the more hilarious is a humanoid robot appearing to drunkenly stumble before face-planting on stage while the Rocky theme plays.

"An inauspicious entry for Russia into the increasingly competitive international space of A.I.-powered robots resembling humans," The New York Times reported.

“At first, there was a moment of silence,” Dmitry Filonov, Editor in Chief of Edinorog Media, who was in the audience for the spectacle, told The New York Times. “Then they began to applaud to show their support.”

While the anthropomorphic robot's failure has caused international delight, the event's organizers blamed the robot's stumbling and tumbling on "calibration and lighting issues," according to the report.

According to the official AIdol website, the team assembling the fleet of Russian AI-powered humanoid robots is comprised of "highly qualified specialists with international experience" as well as "winners of international machine learning competitions."

Yet, on this day, such a highly qualified team apparently failed to adequately prepare for the robot's debut.

According to the AIdol website, the walking model of the AIdol — the one who drunkenly stumbled on stage — is said to be built to interact and communicate with people in industrial and service settings, such as in banks, airports, and other miscellaneous public spaces.

The robot's "potential applications" list the automotive industry, warehouses, metallurgy, service and entertainment, and medicine among the aspirational settings where AIdol may be employed.

For what it's worth, the company also offers a desktop version of the AIdol, which it dubs "the social communication interface of the future."

This version is said to easily integrate into spaces such as medical centers, reception desks, and educational institutions due to its ability to interact with others and answer questions.

Just don't ask the AIdol to walk across a stage just yet.