A creative combination of art and advanced technology, the Boston Dynamics robot dog, Spot, now has a furry canine cousin – Sparkles. The cousin is actually a costume donned on the robot that allows it to appear as a furry dancing pup.

The Waltham, Massachusetts-based company designed the robotic dogs as companion bots meant to venture into areas deemed too dangerous for humans. A recently released video showcased Sparkles and Spot dancing together.

Spot is designed for tasks such as surveying the area of a nuclear fallout or natural disaster. The news of Sparkles comes after Boston Dynamics announced the retirement of Atlas, its bipedal dog, a few weeks prior.

The company clarified that Spot and Sparkles aren’t two separate iterations of its robot dog but that the soft and furry Sparkles is just Spot with a costume.

The software designed to give the robotic dog its dance moves is called Choreographer. It was designed with the media and entertainment industry as the end customer. The program translates high-level instructions into dance moves that the robot can perform.

According to a blog post, if the attempted move is too complex or can’t be executed due to terrain limitations, the software allows Spot to perform the next best possible move that’s similar to what was requested, much like a human dancer would.

The newly released video features both versions of the robot – one as Spot and one donned in the Sparkles “costume”. It shows the robot performing various canine-like gestures, both with and without the Choreographer software added.

Boston Dynamics, now a Hyndai Company, also released a video of the robot with BTS footage. During a time when other companies are releasing robotic animals donned with weapons, this playful addition to Spot gives robotic animals a creative makeover while incorporating an element of art.

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