The Robot Was a Guy in a Suit
Elon Musk once unveiled a prototype humanoid robot that turned out to be a dancer in a costume. His more recent demonstrations are closer—but still not quite there. Read about some other examples of companies faking demonstrations of their not-quite-ready products, then discuss with your team: should companies be required to tell people when demos are slightly or entirely rigged?
Key concepts
- Teleoperation
- A person controlling a machine live from somewhere else, through a remote control or a headset. It is a real and useful tool, from bomb-disposal robots to surgery, but when it is hidden, a machine can look far smarter than it is.
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Every work — at a glance
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Tesla Bot Reveal (Dancer in a Bodysuit) — Tesla (demonstration)
At Tesla's 2021 AI Day, where a launch would normally show a prototype, Musk announced a humanoid robot and then sent out a human dancer in a white bodysuit — and the announcement worked anyway.
+ 5 more works explained inside
What to know
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01
What other companies have faked a demonstration? Faking runs on a spectrum. Steve Jobs launched the 2007 iPhone on prototypes so unstable that engineers wrote him a 'golden path' of actions to follow in order, with the signal bars rigged to show full service — a real product, lightly staged. Google's 2018 assistant phoned a hair salon live on stage, and reporters could not find the salon.
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Across subjects
Theme connection
"Are We There Yet?"
Practice — a sample
SOCAmara's Law says we overrate new technology at first. The WEAKEST objection to staging a demo is —
- A The launch runs late
- B Buyers pay early
- C Engineers keep quiet
- D The scale shrinks
- E The thing is beyond us
Sign in to answer and see why each option is right or wrong.
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