2025 Robot Expo Quadruped Robot Driving Test (things are about to get weird)

[Alan Timm]

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/xbvkdPhfzwU

I'll admit it, I've watched this probably 20 times by now.  The first time I saw this I thought: "OMG Kawasaki finally built that corleo horse robot thingy that they announced earlier this year."

It was only when I read through the comments that I understood what I was seeing, and oh boy.

Go ahead and reply with all the things you see that tip you off, but what got me was everything that it got right. The shift in weight with the robot and the rider. the foot placement, how the gait changes from a walk to a trot to a pace. wow.

Things are about to get weird.  To quote Arnold from Jurassic Park: "hold on to your butts"

[Thomas Messerschmidt]

Yes, it’s AI computer animation. The thing that clued me in was clicking on the creators link and looking at all of their other AI videos. They have quite a few.

Thomas

On Sep 19, 2025, at 9:17 AM, Alan Timm <gest...@gmail.com> wrote:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/xbvkdPhfzwU

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[Alan Timm]

Hey Thomas, that's a good point.  Always check the source of the video.  In this case the source specializes in AI Videos, so that's a really good tell.

Now there are a couple of "tells" in the video itself.  I've found a couple.   Thomas and others, how many can you find?

Alan

[Thomas Messerschmidt]

1. When the horse-dog is walking away from the camera, the girl's legs vanish, first the right one, then the left. 

2. The horse-dog's feet start out kind of narrow and eventually start looking like the woman's feet--like it is wearing sneakers. 

3. Several men have their hands strangely covering their mouths.

4. The left handlebar vanishes as the horse-dog is turning.

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[Alan Timm]

Hah!   I think we saw all the same clues.

There are also a few robot details that fade back out and back in.

Also I've been thinking about why so many lookers-on were rendered with hands over their mouths.  

I wonder if it was because the prompt included something like: "the people around were shocked that... (a woman was riding a robot, or something like that)".

[Thomas Messerschmidt]

Or maybe, “A woman is stealing the robot and riding off on it.“

Thomas

On Sep 19, 2025, at 6:29 PM, Alan Timm <gest...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hah!   I think we saw all the same clues.

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[Jim DiNunzio]

I would have prompted it with “the onlookers film her with their smart phones”

Jim

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[Chris Albertson]

> On Sep 19, 2025, at 9:50 AM, Thomas Messerschmidt <thomas...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Yes, it’s AI computer animation.

OK, the idea is good. I think this shows us how a “fake” AI video could show people what some proposed product would look like. Let’s say you wanted to bring this “Robotic Mobility Device” to market and wanted to show investors how it would work.

Now my question: Could you build this? Having a human rider means the robot does not need to navigate or plan routes. It does need to see the floor and balance. And the motors need to be strong enough. It might be fun to have one. It would go where wheels can’t like seep trails and stairs and up curbs and maybe even jump a fence.