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CeBIT 2012: Pole-dancing and painting robots showcase talents in Hanover

From painting portraits to pole-dancing, some wacky robots have been turning heads at the world’s biggest IT trade fair in Germany.

Taking centre stage were a pair of robots made out of old car parts and CCTV camera-shaped heads.

Gyrating around a pole to the beat of the music played by a third robot DJ, their suggestive moves were controlled by a computer via wireless technology.

The bizarre spectacle was created by British designer Giles Walker. If you want to experience the performances yourself it will set you back a cool £25,000 to hire out for the day.


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Also creating a stir was a robot caricaturist that can sketch people’s portraits so accurately in just a few minutes that it can leave its subjects somewhat shocked with its brutal honesty, according to the research team who worked on the highly-tuned piece of kit.

Designed by Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute, the robot’s in-built computer takes a black-and-white picture of the subject, measuring the contrasts and contours of the face before sketching it just like a street artist.
Inventors also demonstrated how a domesticated robot could serve a glass of orange juice before putting the carton back in a fridge and loading up a dishwasher.

The CeBIT will be home to 4,200 exhibitors from 70 countries throughout the rest of the week.