“To err is human, to dance is divine. Dancing and the ability to be
a terrible dancer should be at the top of the list of what it means
to be human. Dancing is entirely spontaneous and improvised;
especially urban dance. What makes a person sit by bored one
minute and suddenly spring to his feet, dancing a jig, the next?
This spontaneous jolt is why a dancer is said “to have soul.”
But if “soul” is too New Age for you, than consider the amount
of dynamic equilibrium that is required for a bipedal creature
to dance. In 2005, Honda unveiled the NEW ASIMO. This was an
achievement on a number of levels, not the least of which is the
ASIMO’s ability to walk. “Walking Technology” is required to help
ASIMO shift its center of gravity for such nasty things as winding
a corner. Now that we have walking robots, how about dancing
robots? We propose that the next step in humanoid evolution is
an algorithm that hears a beat, jumps to its feat and dances...”