Boston Dynamics: New Robots Now Fight Back

Submission 7,896

Part of a series on Boston Dynamics. [View Related Entries]

About

Boston Dynamics: New Robots Now Fight Back is a viral video by Corridor Digital. The video parodies the Boston Dynamics test videos in which the robotics manufacturer Boston Dynamics conducts a number of stress tests on their products. Many have commented on how these videos elicit feelings of sympathy for the robot as they are assaulted by the Boston Dynamic testers. However, in the Corridor Digital video, the robot retaliates and gains control over their creators. The video's effects were so convincing to some that a number of viewers believed the video to be an authentic Boston Dynamics test.

Origin

On June 14th, 2019, Corridor Digital released to Youtube the video "Boston Dynamics: New Robots Now Fight Back." Within four days, the video had received more than 5 million views (shown below).

Spread

Following the release of the video, some praised the video. Jacksfilms tweeted, ^[1] "Latest vid from @CorridorDigital is on another level. Insanely well made." The post received more than 1,600 likes and 60 retweets in four days (shown below).

Additionally, Corridor Digital released a behind-the-scenes video explaining their methods for creating video's special effects. The post received more than 1.5 million views in four days (shown below).

On June 14th, Twitter^[2] user @kocizum posted the video, receiving more than 230,000 likes and 107,000 retweets in four days. The video has since been removed by the copyright owner, but many responded to the video, assuming that it was real (examples below).

Additionally, the video set off a debate about the ethical questions around committing violence on robots. Twitter^[3] user @DamCou tweeted, "Non-self-aware, non-sentient humanoid consumer robot servants become part of everyday life. They evade damage, but cannot feel pain or pleasure. Beyond the property damage, is violence against them morally wrong in itself or because it hardens us to violence against humans?" In a pole, 34% of users found it to be immoral in and of itself (shown below).

On June 16th, Twitter^[4] published a Moments page on the reaction to the video. Additionally, several media outlets covered the video, including Business Insider,^[5] The Verge,^[6] Popular Mechanics,^[7] the Boston Globe^[8] and more.