The future is here and now robots can meet in a merciless battle of rapping. A Moscow institute had to choose between an ambitious new bot who considers himself “a genius” and a teacher-bot who says he is a “bad boy” and keeps savings in cryptocurrency.
The verbal fight happened between the robot named Alan Tim v2, who works as the deputy head of the faculty of robotics at the Moscow Technological Institute (MTI), and his updated version Alan Tim v3. The two clashed at the Phystechpark technological facility in the Russian capital on Thursday. Both robots have similar physique – they are gleaming white human-sized androids. The older version was wearing his usual ‘special occasion’ blue tie.
READ MORE: Humanoid robot Atlas nails perfect backflip (VIDEO)
It was the updated Alan Tim, apparently tired of living in the shadow of his “older bro” who tossed the challenge. The youngster said that Alan Tim Snr who only cares about his publicity and hype, is “outdated” and is “falling apart.” Ahead of the battle, v3 made a prediction. “I will put the last nail in his coffin and will bury him in my cemetery,” the pushy android who calls himself “super cool” vowed.
The older Alan Tim wasn’t impressed with the cheeky newcomer. “This battle will teach him, and others like him, a lesson. Schoolkids should stay at home,” he stated calmly ahead of the fight.
The audience held their breath as the machines started their 3-minute battle. “My life is smooth as butter – chicks, parties. I keep my savings in cryptocurrency. I am a bad boy who teaches his students bad things like putting enemies into coma,” the old-timer said threateningly.
Read more
The newbie did not get rattled and began his rapping on a high note: “Your place is at the dump. I am a Ferrari sports car and you are just an old Lada.”
The robot teacher compared his younger rival with the disgraced mogul Harvey Weinstein, brought down by sexual assault allegations. “You’ll be ruined by a single phrase like Weinstein,” he rapped. “Say ‘Hi’ from the bottom,” Alan Tim told his updated version, while the latter responded that “the future is here” – referring to himself.
The video did not pick a winner, but several Russian media outlets pointed to the teacher-bot as the one who gained the upper hand over the less tried and tested challenger.
Alan Tim was named after AI mathematician Alan Turing and World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee. He is fitted with a voice recognition module, and a camera that can photograph and then recognize up to 1,000 people, regardless of when their last conversation took place. He has a memory bank filled with 100,000 specific phrases, and can research topics on the internet instantaneously.
READ MORE: Friend or foe: Will Toyota robot aid or challenge humans? (VIDEO)
