Say hello to The Aigency, the world’s first talent agency for robot actors.
Wait, what?
Meet Zero and One, the first actors “signed” to The Aigency. They also go by Spot, their model name.
Built by Boston Dynamics, these four legged things were made originally for work in the military, construction and other manual labor fields. They became a popular character through Boston Dynamics’ YouTube. I’m sure you’ve seen at least one of their viral videos, like this 2018 clip of one opening a door for its friend:
In the last two years, these creatures has evolved from door openers to actors for hire. Here, you can see one of them in its first acting trailer as a fitness trainer, or FitBot. Those yoga poses look pretty solid to me.
Not only will the Aigency work to put robot actors into major campaigns, but they are also really branching out into the world of TikTok. Now you, yes you, can hire your own robot actor for your next TikTok video. That’s one way to go viral, I guess?
Right now, they’re building their actors’ portfolios via TikTok collabs. Anyone can pitch an idea to The Aigency to create a collaborative video with Zero or One. Since social distancing is imperative at the moment, all filming between the two parties will be done remotely—the robot and its handlers will send you their footage for editing. Hopefully, once the world is in a less perilous situation, The Aigency can bring these robot actors into the real world again for some true collabs!
You can find their in-house content on TikTok @TheAigency. I’ll just leave this one here:
@theaigency Introducing your new spirit animal. 🐴 #giddyup #horse #horsevibes #spiritanimal #petvlog #tiktokcovers #fyp #foryourpage #robot #bostondynamics
It definitely is a little weird to see a $75,000 high-tech robot being used to make meme videos, but it is what it is. I can’t help but wonder what’s in store for the future of robot actors. Will there ever be a robotic A-list star? Will they have rights? Can human actors kick around their robot counterparts (literally) with no repercussions?
@dr.mcflufferton you asked for it .. #thekick #spot #fyp #bostondynamics #robotdog #puppy #blackmirror #foryou #xyzbca #videocall
For now, I’ll enjoy the occasional robot internet video and my human actor shows and movies. Maybe when Tom Cruise ages out of the Mission: Impossible series, he can be replaced by Zero. Unlikely, but no longer in the realm of impossibility.
Thanks, Aigency!
