--- title: "Viewers Worried Jason Derulo’s Super Bowl Robot Dogs Will Kill Them" description: "While Rihanna's Super Bowl halftime performance stole the night, a group of weird robot dogs during the pregame show left viewers pretty perturbed." date: "2023-02-13" modified: "2023-02-13" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/jason-derulo-super-bowl-robot-dogs" categories: - "Robot Dogs" - "Robotics" - "Robots and Machines" tags: - "RoboDogs" - "robot dogs" - "super bowl" - "the digest" --- # Viewers Worried Jason Derulo’s Super Bowl Robot Dogs Will Kill Them ![While Rihanna's Super Bowl halftime performance stole the night, a group of weird robot dogs during the pregame show left viewers pretty perturbed.]() *\Image: Joe Scarnici / LIV Golf / Futurism\* ## Dog Days While Rihanna's jaw-dropping Super Bowl halftime performance — and [baby bump reveal]() — invariably stole the night, a group of weird robot dogs during the pregame show left viewers with a bit more shock than awe. As if the concept of an NFL "TikTok Tailgate" wasn't enough, the show put on by singer Jason Derulo featured, for some reason, a bunch of diminutive Boston Dynamics-esque dancing robodogs, whose uncanny choreography was timed to match the human dancers alongside them. Unsurprisingly, second-screen Super Bowl watchers were wigged out by the robots, with one user likening them to the human-hunting doggos from the "[Metalhead]()" episode of Netflix's "Black Mirror." https://twitter.com/JakeMGrumbach/status/1624882872623710210 ## Dangerous Game Some even [wondered why Derulo]() was "dancing with the robot dogs that are going to be hunting us in 10 years." "Not loving these robot dog backup dancers in the pregame show," [one user posted](). "What does \[Derulo\] think this is, the Puppy Bowl in 2055!?" ## But Why As of now, it's unclear who built the robodoggos — which, we gotta admit, are pretty adorable in a dystopian way — and if they were meant to be advertising anything other than a future of mass surveillance. Given, however, that there were lots of other robotic aspects of Derulo's performance, including two huge robot lady torsos that look remarkably like the album art for Erykah Badu's excellent 2009 album "[New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh]()," it's easy to surmise that the performance's half-baked theme was "robots." If only his team had gone a step further and predicted that people might be a little freaked out by the sight of dancing robodogs. **More on creepy robots:** [*Scientists Create Shape-Shifting Robot That Can Melt Through Prison Bars*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()