A Unitree Go2 quadruped robot with Elon Musk's face has been seen wandering around San Francisco. This work is not a Tesla project, but by the renowned digital artist Beeple. It is part of his INFINITE_LOOP exhibition and the Regular Animals project, which includes robots with the faces of other icons like Zuckerberg or Picasso. The installation functions as a critique of the filter that tech billionaires and their algorithms impose on our perception of art and reality.
The Technology Behind the Regular Animals: AI Vision and Real-Time Generation 🤖
The system is based on a Unitree Go2 robot, a common mobile platform in robotic development, equipped with a hyper-realistic mask. It integrates cameras that capture the environment. These images are processed by an artificial intelligence model that generates visual works, parodying the style associated with each character. In its so-called Popo Mode, the robot physically prints and ejects these creations. The whole is an automated reflection on authorship and the artistic process in the age of AI.
Popo Mode Activated: When Technological Art Literally Becomes Shit 💩
The most talked-about feature is, without a doubt, its peculiar delivery method. The robot does not display the art on a screen; it prints it and deposits it on the ground. Beeple turns the metaphor that certain AI-generated art is trash into a physical and comedic act. Thus, a dog with Elon Musk's face defecates small paintings with its own aesthetic. It is a perfect satire: the cycle of consuming algorithmic content, processed and excreted for our amazement.