{"id":2490,"date":"2025-04-28T08:35:09","date_gmt":"2025-04-28T08:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thebluewhale.ai\/blog\/?p=2490"},"modified":"2025-04-28T08:35:09","modified_gmt":"2025-04-28T08:35:09","slug":"when-a-robot-took-the-lead-in-a-dazzling-dance-show-at-scrf-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thebluewhale.ai\/blog\/when-a-robot-took-the-lead-in-a-dazzling-dance-show-at-scrf-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"When A Robot Took The Lead In A Dazzling Dance Show At SCRF 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The 16th annual Sharjah Children\u2019s Reading Festival (SCRF) on Friday turned into a stage of awe as mesmerised children and parents gathered to watch something unique: a robot dancing in perfect rhythm with a human.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As music filled the air, a robotic figure took centre stage beside a nimble performer to present \u201cDancing With a Robot\u201d &#8211; a futuristic performance blending technology and movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Behind the act was Daniel Simu, a 33-year-old circus artist from the Netherlands who describes himself as \u201can acrobat first, and a robot maker second.\u201d Daniel\u2019s creation, \u2018Acrobot\u2019 (a robot who performs acrobatics) is a 3D-printed humanoid robot that performs pre-programmed choreography alongside him in a way that feels almost human.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Though the robot can\u2019t see, hear or interact in real-time, Simu\u2019s performance created the illusion of intelligence through clever choreography, timing, and visual design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Daniel built the robot entirely by himself during the pandemic, teaching himself 3D printing, programming, and mechanical engineering through YouTube and trial and error. \u201cMy first version fell apart after two shows,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I kept learning. I wanted something that looked like a machine, not a person. So the mechanics are visible \u2013&nbsp;people can see the wires and gears. That sparks curiosity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And spark it did. Children rushed to ask questions after the show \u2013&nbsp;about the motors, the battery, even the type of microcontroller used. \u201cI was amazed at how tech-savvy the kids are here,\u201d Daniel said. \u201cSome of them knew what Arduino and 3D printing were. That\u2019s rare.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While this is technically an acrobatics routine, the robot\u2019s precise movements and Simu\u2019s fluid transitions give it the grace of dance \u2013 complete with hints of salsa, tango and freestyle movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Performing two shows a day during his three-day visit to Sharjah, Daniel said he was thrilled to be part of the festival. \u201cThis is my first time in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uaetoday.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">UAE<\/a>,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a different rhythm from Europe, but the energy here at the festival \u2013 especially from the kids \u2013\u00a0is incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Simu will perform the show twice again on Saturday, April 26 before flying back home.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/thebluewhale.ai\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/1-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2491\"\/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 16th annual Sharjah Children\u2019s Reading Festival (SCRF) on Friday turned into a stage of awe as mesmerised children and parents gathered to watch something unique: a robot dancing in perfect rhythm with a human. As music filled the air, a robotic figure took centre stage beside a nimble performer to present \u201cDancing With a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2491,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ai"],"aioseo_notices":[],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/thebluewhale.ai\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/1.jpg",1283,854,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/thebluewhale.ai\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/1.jpg",1283,854,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/thebluewhale.ai\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/1.jpg",1283,854,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/thebluewhale.ai\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/1-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/thebluewhale.ai\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/1-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"large":["https:\/\/thebluewhale.ai\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/1-1024x682.jpg",1024,682,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/thebluewhale.ai\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/1.jpg",1283,854,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/thebluewhale.ai\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/1.jpg",1283,854,false],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/thebluewhale.ai\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/1-755x420.jpg",755,420,true],"graptor-sq-xs":["https:\/\/thebluewhale.ai\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/1-100x100.jpg",100,100,true]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Sharad Agarwal","author_link":"https:\/\/thebluewhale.ai\/blog\/author\/sharad\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"<a href=\"https:\/\/thebluewhale.ai\/blog\/category\/ai\/\" rel=\"category tag\">AI<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"The 16th annual Sharjah Children\u2019s Reading Festival (SCRF) on Friday turned into a stage of awe as mesmerised children and parents gathered to watch something unique: a robot dancing in perfect rhythm with a human. As music filled the air, a robotic figure took centre stage beside a nimble performer to present \u201cDancing With a&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebluewhale.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebluewhale.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebluewhale.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebluewhale.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebluewhale.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2490"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thebluewhale.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2490\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2492,"href":"https:\/\/thebluewhale.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2490\/revisions\/2492"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebluewhale.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebluewhale.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebluewhale.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebluewhale.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}