
Hotshot the Robot roams the grounds of the VIP area during the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on April 14, 2012. (Kate McGinty | The Desert Sun)
The robot that roams the Empire Polo Grounds during Coachella is aptly named — Hotshot.
It asks fans their names, flirts with the ladies (“you’re beautiful, Jessica,” it once told a L.A. Times reporter) and high fives kids. Its masculine voice also delivers sassy retorts, and its yellow-rimmed eyes seem to widen as people snap photos.
Hotshot the Robot — a life-size machine that rolls smoothly on three wheels with neon blue lights leading the way — was created to entertain at festivals or parties and can DJ or MC a special event.
It made its debut at the Burning Man Festival in San Francisco in 2004. Since then, it has crashed “American Idol” auditions in Los Angeles and the Voodoo Music Experience in New Orleans.
In one of its most regular gigs, Hotshot has entertained the masses at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival since 2006, an experience its creators describe this way:
Whether he’s being mobbed by Daft Punk fans, cooling the overheated crowd with his water jets, lurking around the artist camp and polo fields, or enthusiastically greeting for hours on end, HTR still can’t erase the unfortunate “unit” malfunction with Mr.Lee from the Crue. At least HTR can find solace having been commemorated in a stellar EMEK design….




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