AI-powered robot dances for Putin days after another Russian robot stumbles

A robot powered by artificial intelligence danced for Vladimir Putin, and the Russian president said the performance was ‘very beautiful.’

MOSCOW -- An AI-powered robot danced for President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday at an exhibition put on by Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, designed to showcase the company’s technological advances.

The performance, which was shown on state TV, showed the Kremlin chief standing opposite the humanoid robot as it explained to him what it was before dancing to what it said was its favorite track.

“My name is Green. I am the first Russian humanoid robot with embedded artificial intelligence. This means that I am not just a program on a screen, but a physical embodiment of technology,” the robot told Putin.

Sberbank says the robot’s software will be constantly upgraded, that it has the potential to perform physical tasks, and that a pilot project will see it integrated into parts of its business.

The unusual event was watched closely by Putin’s bodyguards, one of whom stood between the robot and the Russian leader afterwards to make sure it moved away from him and did not get too close.

Putin called the robot’s performance “very beautiful” and thanked it before continuing his tour.

The performance comes days after the Moscow presentation of another Russian robot purported to harness AI - called Aidol - went wrong after the robot fell flat on its face shortly after appearing on stage.

Putin also inspected one of Sberbank’s new generation smart cash machines which with the help of a camera can give customers a summary of their health based on 10 indicators such as pulse and blood pressure.

Putin said at that event that he’d been through one of his regular health checkups recently and that everything was fine with him.

Reporting by Elena Fabrichanaya and Andrew OsbornEditing by Guy Faulconbridge, Reuters