A Penn-made robot appeared on ‘The Daily Show’

Jiren Parikh missed his company’s 15 minutes of fame on national TV.

“I was working,” said Parikh, CEO of Penn spinout Ghost Robotics, makers of the Minitaur robot that appeared on a segment of The Daily Show on Wednesday, which, fortunately, was made available online.

The robot — which also played a starring role at the launch of Pennovation in 2016 — makes an appearance in a dystopian dream by correspondent Ronny Chieng, an attorney looking into how artificial intelligence is being used to streamline legal processes, though at a cost.

In the final part of the segment, Chieng has a bit of a meltdown and dreams of a dystopian court nightmare in which “Honorable Judge Alexa” is presiding. The jurors are a cadre of robots, the Minitaur among them.

“They happened to see our robot in a video that we produced and they reached out,” Parikh told Technical.ly. “We shipped an unit out there and told them what they could do.”

Ghost Robotics has its HQ at the Pennovation Center, but recently moved its team of nine to a 1,200-square-foot office across the street, in Penn’s Building 197.

Watch the segment here:
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