Rio Paralympics Opening Ceremony Dancing Robot

For the 2016 Rio Paralympics Opening Ceremony at the Maracanã Stadium, American Paralympic snowboarder and double leg amputee Amy Purdy roused the crowd with her flirtatious, boundary-pushing dance as one half of an unexpected couple – person and dancing robot.

Year

2016

Thanks to our partners: Technical Director for Staging and Scenic, Dave Williams; Producer, Flavio Machado; Production Manager, Pedro Vilela; Technical Producer, James Lee; and Director, Fred Gelli.

The model, actress and motivational speaker, Amy Purdy, performed an inventive pas de deux with KUKA, a self-propelled, industrial robotic arm. Purdy and the robot played a game of give-and-take, increasing the intensity of their moves and challenging each other to push their limits, before Purdy was lifted four feet into the air.

TAIT provided TAIT Navigator to control the KUKA robot at the Rio Paralympics Opening Ceremony.