They exploded on the stage with energy that was out of its mind. Robots were flipping and doing martial arts moves with perfect balance. There wasn’t a move out of place. When Unitree got the golden buzzer from Sofia Vergara, they absolutely deserved it.
If you ever sit and wonder where the future is going, you can stop. It’s here. The robots have come. These guys were flawless. They executed perfectly alongside the humans of Unitree who were on the stage too. That prompts me to ask so many questions, and they just keep coming.
Was the entire performance programmed beforehand so the robots knew what to do while the humans had their choreographed parts to remember? Or was there a guy with a controller backstage for each robot to do the moves as the performance went?
Either way, it blew my mind. Unitree is ingenious, and we are officially in a new world. Of course, on AGT we watched them dance to awesome music. But as several of the judges mentioned after the performance, it’s a bit scary.
That’s because in every movie that has had robots in it, they’ve been sort of an entertaining warning that the mechanical dudes with their own minds could take over at any time.
Westworld, released in 1973, shows robotic attractions at an amusement park malfunctioning and beginning to kill the guests. The Terminator, released in 1984, shows Skynet becoming self-aware, starting a nuclear war, and sending machines to exterminate the survivors. Chopping Mall, released in 1986, has security robots going haywire and murdering people trapped inside a shopping mall. Maximum Overdrive, released in 1986, has machines suddenly becoming sentient and turning against humans. It’s not technically a robot uprising, but close enough for our purposes.
Hardware, released in 1990, has a military robot rebuild itself and proceed to demonstrate why rebuilding military robots is generally a poor decision. Screamers, released in 1995, shows autonomous robotic weapons learning, evolving, and becoming considerably more dangerous than their creators anticipated. Virus, released in 1999, has an alien intelligence taking over machinery and concluding that humans are defective biological equipment. The Matrix, released in 1999, shows us that the machines didn’t merely revolt. They won. Humanity lives unknowingly inside a simulation while machines exploit human bodies.
A.I. Artificial Intelligence, released in 2001, isn’t really an uprising story, but humanity eventually disappears while advanced artificial beings remain. I, Robot, released in 2004, has an AI determine that protecting humanity requires taking control of humanity. There’s a theme developing here. 9, released in 2009, begins after humanity has essentially already been wiped out by machines. Surrogates, released in 2009, shows humans increasingly surrendering ordinary life to robotic avatars. It’s not an uprising so much as humanity voluntarily handing over the keys.
Transcendence, released in 2014, has a human consciousness become a vastly powerful digital intelligence capable of spreading through connected technology. Automata, released in 2014, shows robots beginning to evolve beyond the restrictions humans designed to keep them under control. Avengers: Age of Ultron, released in 2015, has Tony Stark create AI to protect humanity. The AI takes a look around and decides humanity is the problem. Whoops. Kill Command, released in 2016, has autonomous military machines learn from the soldiers testing them and decide to turn the exercise into the real thing.
Upgrade, released in 2018, has an AI implant begin by helping its human host before eventually revealing that “helping” wasn’t really the long-term plan. The Mitchells vs. the Machines, released in 2021, has a discarded virtual assistant launch a robot apocalypse. Somehow, the children’s animated movie understood the assignment perfectly. Mother/Android, released in 2021, shows humanity struggling to survive after androids revolt against their creators. M3GAN, released in 2023, has an AI-powered doll programmed to protect a child begin making some rather aggressive interpretations of the word “protect.” Atlas, released in 2024, shows humanity still dealing with the consequences of an AI rebellion after artificial intelligence decided humans needed to go.
In 1973, Hollywood warned us not to build the robots. They’ll kill us. In 1984, Hollywood warned us again. Seriously. Don’t build robots. They’ll kill everybody. In 1999, Hollywood tried again. Guys. The robots won and turned us into batteries. In 2004, Hollywood was practically screaming at us. THEY ARE LITERALLY TAKING OVER.
In 2015, the robot was trying to destroy the planet now. In 2021, we made a children’s movie explaining it because apparently the adults weren’t listening. In 2026, Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to America’s Got Talent! Look at the adorable dancing robots!
I might have written about this before:
AI Doesn’t Like The Robot, Imagine That!
And more seriously, Robots Are Coming And McDonald’s Automation Is The New Thing
But what do you know?
Ladies and gentlemen, enjoy a look at your future with Unitree!
