These robots are programmed to dance to music and to display fancy footwork.

Come meet NTU's breakdancing robots. They slip and slide and execute handstands, delivering a perfectly synchronised performance with the music. This trio of dancing humanoid robots is the handiwork of students from NTU's School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering (EEE).

The grooving robots were a hit at the launch of the Young Talents Showcase on 14 March at the Singapore Discovery Centre. The inaugural project is a joint collaboration between EEE and the Singapore Discovery Centre to showcase recent projects done in the field of entertainment humanoid robots at NTU.

Using Robonova-1 (RN1) humanoids, each about 30cm tall, the team of 12 NTU students, working under the supervision of Assoc Prof Er Meng Joo, modified the robotic trio to include Bluetooth communication capability, essentially allowing the robots to 'talk' among themselves via wireless communication over Bluetooth and an external computer. This results in flawless coordination.

The robots have also been programmed to interact and play in a life-like manner. Audiences at the Young Talents Showcase were thrilled when they were allowed to command the robots via remote control to perform various interesting moves such as cartwheels, somersaults and one-hand push-ups. Like the ever-popular Transformers, the robots could niftily transform into wheeled robots at the press of a button. No wonder the NTU segment, "Dance with Robots", initially scheduled to run from 14 March to 6 April, has been extended until 31 May due to popular demand for repeat performances.

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