'Cutting edge' Russian robot was man in suit

Boris the robot outed as man in rented robot suit

A supposedly ‘cutting edge' robot on display on national Russian television turned out to be a man in a suit.

Some news outlets and social media users noticed some strange characteristics shown by ‘Boris the robot' at this year's PROJECT show. Viewers speculated how such a high-tech project had such limited existing information and how it was apparently developed so quickly.

People were also curious as to why the robot had no sensors to navigate yet seemingly didn't need them, and why it made so many unnecessary movements during its dance that were not done by the people it was ‘copying'.

However, what observers found most suspicions was how it was the perfect size and shape for a human to fit inside.

The truth came out when a backstage picture was released of a man wearing the costume without the helmet on. This confirmed many people's suspicions that the ‘robot' was in fact a fake.

In fact, the robot is called ‘Alyosha the robot' and can be bought commercially from a Russian website called Show Robots for 250,000 roubles or around £3,000. The company sells robot-themed costumes, as well as organising events and appearing at children's parties.

When people first found out the video was taken down from YouTube, but later put back up.

The current line from the organisation responsible for display is that they never stated it was a real robot. Furthermore, the audience was comprised of school children and the robot was only intended as a fun prop that people had taken too seriously.

On the website that sells the Alyosha robot costume the product is described as being able to create "an almost complete illusion that you have a real robot".

Unfortunately, not nearly complete enough.