Doka Harumi's robot dance routine fills us with shame for humanity, but mostly Japan

Have you ever felt guilty after watching a robot dance? Don't worry, you will soon. Worse than that time you "accidentally" sat through four episodes of Sailor Moon. Worse than that time you watched the Helicopter Boyz video and then sent it to all your friends. Worse than that time you got a J-pop song stuck in your head and tried to hum it to Shazam so you could identify it and buy it on iTunes. So much worse. Video is after the break.

[EddieN Posted Nov 30th 2009 1:07PM]

Ahhhhh... the horrors! I won't sleep for weeks after watching that video... thanks for nothin Engadget! :(

[Smart People Play Tuba Posted Nov 30th 2009 2:35PM]

Just because you CAN do something doesn't mean you SHOULD.

Just ask Victor Frankenstein.

[woops Posted Nov 30th 2009 3:22PM]

Japan under-population crisis

[305BuddyLuv Posted Nov 30th 2009 6:35PM]

@EddieN
That is scary. They need to build this robot to focus more on constructive stuff that will hell the world. Not making able to dance, so dam sad.

[Ridgecity Posted Nov 30th 2009 6:45PM]

@EddieN I think this buys us more time to prepare for the robotic revolution. At least a decade...

[DarkGrimoire Posted Dec 1st 2009 7:09AM]

@woops This and the fact that some Japanese guy actually married a virtual character off a DS game.. :D

http://www.megagames.com/news/html/console/japanesemanmarriesvideogamecharacter.shtml

[ebrookey14 Posted Nov 30th 2009 1:08PM]

I'd hit it.

[Steve Miller Posted Nov 30th 2009 2:41PM]

Hmm...has anyone notice that the announcer in the background constantly rolling her eyes and showing signs of unimpression(new word)...or maybe it was just pure jealousy = D

[Engisneer Posted Nov 30th 2009 3:51PM]

@ebrookey14 .... with a shovel!?

[petey1111 Posted Nov 30th 2009 1:10PM]

HAHAHAHAH!! thats great. the balancing is pretty cool assuming the feet aren't bolted to the ground. I didn't watch the whole thing so I don't know if they ever show its feet.

[clexman Posted Nov 30th 2009 1:13PM]

@petey1111

its wearing pink Crocs

[Ninbrendo Posted Nov 30th 2009 1:39PM]

I wondered the same, but at 2:54 you can see the feet move.

[thamunk Posted Nov 30th 2009 7:41PM]

@clexman

Exactly, why Crocs?
It's hideous on top of gross

[yuriythebest Posted Nov 30th 2009 1:12PM]

someone please shoot it

[nuprotocol Posted Nov 30th 2009 3:34PM]

@yuriythebest

I 2nd that!

[cormin Posted Nov 30th 2009 1:12PM]

that handle how the guy picked up the robot after wards reminds me of those leashes americans put on their kids

[peepeeland Posted Nov 30th 2009 1:17PM]

This is gonna look so silly in about, right now.

[trevorno Posted Nov 30th 2009 1:20PM]

Pretty soon robots will be puttin strippers out of work.

[demon Posted Nov 30th 2009 2:01PM]

@trevorno: Soon as they have convincing fake boobs, I suspect it'll happen...

[JamesR Posted Nov 30th 2009 3:19PM]

@demon

Agreed because no strippers have fake.....oh wait :)

[paulwks Posted Nov 30th 2009 5:42PM]

@demon
and skin over their robot arms and legs... on second thought, no! its never okay.

[N900 Posted Nov 30th 2009 1:20PM]

I don't know, I've seen some Americans dance worse than this...

[flanders Posted Nov 30th 2009 7:00PM]

@N900
Speaking of that, how the hell did they steal my dance moves?!!!

[Eternity Posted Nov 30th 2009 1:21PM]

I can see it now. An army of japanese school girl robots marching and killing and pillaging nearby countries. Cute yet deadly, they are the perfect disguise for Skynet to invade.

[SimplyAdam Posted Nov 30th 2009 1:31PM]

@Eternity If you look hard enough, you'll find the films :-)

[Eternity Posted Nov 30th 2009 1:47PM]

Okay NOW I'm scared.... :P

[MJGAMER 1991 XBL Posted Nov 30th 2009 3:47PM]

@Eternity Just surround the border with camera phones and we'll make them flee screaming by taking upskirt pics.

[Eternity Posted Nov 30th 2009 3:54PM]

@MJGAMER 1991 XBL
That won't work, they might have man eating steel vaginas. = o

[Tijuana Sauerkraut Posted Nov 30th 2009 1:21PM]

Alright, so we've seen the robot dance, big deal... now let's see if the chick on the stage can top it.

[nuprotocol Posted Nov 30th 2009 3:36PM]

@Tijuana Sauerkraut

Exactly... Have her wear the same outfit and try to beat the robot.

[CapnShiner Posted Dec 1st 2009 4:33AM]

@Tijuana Sauerkraut
That would be much more fun to watch.

[MoonWalkerCTE Posted Nov 30th 2009 1:24PM]

W

T

F

[Don Corleone Posted Nov 30th 2009 1:27PM]

Why? I mean, I was having a nice day.

[DER GORF Posted Dec 1st 2009 5:40AM]

@Don Corleone

Why? Because they can... And because they're from Japan.

[fliguy84 Posted Nov 30th 2009 1:28PM]

Man the harpoon!

[talam Posted Nov 30th 2009 1:28PM]

I don't know if I should be ashamed or not that I actually know the song in the video...

[Kajax77 Posted Nov 30th 2009 1:53PM]

@talam be ashamed

[MeisterDon Posted Nov 30th 2009 2:09PM]

@talam It's okay, you're not the only one.

[hellfroze Posted Nov 30th 2009 5:12PM]

@talam - don't feel bad: I have the following video in my youtube favorites >.>

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hcsqfu50Q2Y

[Jawajohn Posted Nov 30th 2009 1:28PM]

very painful to watch.

[NAME Posted Nov 30th 2009 1:28PM]

Next version needs to know how to dance no a Pole!

I need some $1 Dollar bills

[questionexclamation Posted Nov 30th 2009 1:30PM]

Actually I think it'd look 200x better (the dance) if they put a smile on the robot's face and handles that curved a little instead of flat straight.

[Steve Miller Posted Nov 30th 2009 2:43PM]

@questionexclamation
"handles that curved" - like a fat chick?

[Ryujin Posted Nov 30th 2009 2:56PM]

@questionexclamation
Hopefully he meant just curves for that ass.

[KillaChaos Posted Nov 30th 2009 1:30PM]

DEFINITELY Uncanny valley here. We have gotten to the next step. The movements were painfully clunky, but in someway advanced.

[ninjagin Posted Nov 30th 2009 1:31PM]

Uh. I could only take about 2 minutes of it. The way the head flopped around, the constant "spotting" from the guy behind it, and those dead black eyes just creeped me out. It was like watching a jap-pop dance homage to "Weekend at Bernie's".

[thefinitemonkey Posted Nov 30th 2009 1:32PM]

Call me when it can do DDR on easy and I might be interested.

[msunardi Posted Nov 30th 2009 1:37PM]

One step closer to Lucy Liu-bot...
The song was nauseating though...*urk*

[Ryujin Posted Nov 30th 2009 2:57PM]

@msunardi
+1 Futurama

[JeanMichel Decombe Posted Nov 30th 2009 1:40PM]

Cheerleader tartan miniskirt and Crocs.. does not compute.