Boris, the hi-tech Russian robot, was really a man in a suit

14 December 2018 - 12:22 By Odwa Mjo

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A man in a costume appeared on a Russian television network pretending to be a robot.
Image: Twitter\@edrormba

A Russian robot named Boris that appeared on national television to showcase the country’s technological progress turned out to be a man in a suit.

Television network Russia 24 praised the robot for its ability to speak and dance. However, many viewers were not convinced as Boris was more flexible and possessed more human-like behaviour than your average AI robot.

According to Sky News, bloggers and journalists pointed out human-like gestures and movements that the robot made during the broadcast.

Footage of an artificial intelligence robot that Russian state television used as an example of the country's technological prowess has been exposed as a man wearing a robot suit.

For more on this story, head here: https://t.co/JM4wsOwXjp pic.twitter.com/GrpnBQWDRi
— Sky News (@SkyNews) December 13, 2018

According to The Guardian, the man was wearing a £3,000 (about R54,000) robot costume designed by the company Show Robots. It included a microphone and a tablet display.

A picture showing the man’s neck visible in the costume was circulated on social media.

"“Robot Boris has already learned to dance and he’s not that bad”...

Anyways, who are the robots in the picture? pic.twitter.com/0qRSA4ncrL
— PLⒶNΣT_☻f_Puppets (@audio_pervert) December 13, 2018

On Twitter, there was mixed reaction.

Praising their engineering prowess, Russian state television tried to pass off a guy in a robot suit as an an actual robot earlier this week. #sticktohacking #boristherobot #veryhightech
— sarahsdailyfacts (@sarahsdailyfac1) December 13, 2018

Have you heard about the Russian Robot named Boris?
He was suppose to be the smartest, most amble robot made.

Turns out, it was Mitt Romney in a Robot Suit.
— DoSomeThinkin' (@DoThinkin) December 13, 2018

Welcome to the family, Boris!#Robots? pic.twitter.com/8CkB16uDFM
— Leonardo Flores (@Leonardo_UPRM) December 13, 2018

I’ve been bamboozled cant believe Boris the robot ain’t real pic.twitter.com/W5OBzJbTFo
— 💦✨VOSS BBY✨💦 (@MAGAZINE407) December 13, 2018

Russia used Boris the robot as a fake it till u make it way to let people think they are advanced in AI.
I love Russia, but come on!!#garyvee : u always be exposed
— Marco (@macgram23) December 14, 2018

Following the outing of #Boris the high tech #RussianRobot as “a man in a robot suit”, more “men in robots” revelations begin to emerge... pic.twitter.com/N41MZk6JZ6
— Star Wars PR (@StarWarsPR) December 13, 2018