Massive Robot Army Is Here To Destroy Your Foolish World Records

Ed Mazza

This is how it begins.

An army of robots has assembled in China and so far they seem content to dance and break records. The move is almost certainly to lull humans into a false sense of security so we will ignore the obvious threat they pose.

The 1,069 dancing “Dobi” robots set up by WL Intelligent Technology Co. Ltd. was recognized earlier this month by Guinness World Records for breaking the mark for “most robots dancing simultaneously.”

The total number of dancing robots was slightly higher, but a few keeled over mid-routine and were disqualified by human adjudicators.

The rest kept dancing... and, perhaps, plotting.

Guinness said the Dobi robots can also talk, do tai chi and “many other human-like actions.”

The previous record of 1,007 dancing robots was set last year by Ever Win Company & Ltd., also in China.

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Astronauts

Next time around, it will be one small step for a robot, one giant leap for software coders. For decades sci-fi movies have predicted that people will someday travel on enormous spaceships to distant stars. But in the age of robotic landers and explorers, the argument for sending people into space is becoming weaker. Not only is it highly risky, it’s also astronomically expensive and galactically difficult to create the life support systems needed for interplanetary travel. It’s much easier to send a robotic explorer that needs no oxygen or food, never goes to the bathroom and can hibernate for years while travelling to distant celestial bodies. And if that’s not enough, <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/robonaut.html#.VIiRbDHF_h4" target="_blank">NASA is actually working on a robotic astronaut</a>. Humans may yet travel to distant stars, but robots, rather than astronauts, will get there first. <em>Probability of automation, according to Oxford report: N/A</em>

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.