Dancing robot swan makes people misty-eyed

We jaded old Cravers have seen plenty of dancing robots in our day, but a robot rond de jambe-ing to music from Tchaikovsky's epically tragic "Swan Lake"? Now that gets under our feathers. The robot swan, developed at Sweden's Malardalen University, dances an alternately gentle and dramatic Dying Swan choreographed by dancer Asa Unander-Scharin, who is not a robot. The piece, just over four minutes long, has reportedly moved people to get misty-eyed and use descriptors like "touching" and "beautiful," words not often associated with machines. The robot swan stands about 3.2 feet tall, with 19 joints in its white wings, neck, beak, and feet that give it the flexibility to pull off both smooth and fiery moves as demanded by the choreographer.