4 min readAug 19, 2023 12:19 PM IST
First published on: Aug 19, 2023 at 12:04 PM IST
Recently, a few videos showing the flawless abilities of the robots were widely shared on social media platforms. In one of the videos, a robot was seen playing table tennis and beating a human at the game.
Another video claimed that a robot was sent from the UK to meet with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
While many believed these videos to be real, they were actually digitally altered. Such videos are usually generated using Computer Generated Imagery (CGI).
CGI creates still or animated visual content with various computer software. It can be used to create both three-dimensional (3D) and two-dimensional (2D) effects.
Here’s how you can identify CGI videos:
1. Observe the video
The mistakes that we often ignore at first glance become the things that we should really focus upon when we look at such videos. If you take the first video for example, and observe it carefully, you will see that the feet of the robot blend with the floor. This is a clear giveaway that the viral video is digitally altered. Such videos, if edited poorly, are also blurry.
2. Look at the background carefully
It is important to carefully look at the background. These videos are not flawless and there would be at least one visual clue hiding in the background. In the second video of the robot meeting the Ukraine President, if the robot and its movements are observed carefully, a blurred background can be seen.
3. Check the light and the shadows
The shadows of the objects reveal a lot of things. The problem with shadow renders is that it is an actual layer that you have to blend with reality and it is tough. It is very easy to spot a fake video based on the location of the sun and the position of the shadow that it creates. In CGI videos, if poorly edited, there are two extremes — either the shadow is dark or there is no shadow at all.
4. Observe the motion
Getting the motion of the object correct in CGI can be difficult. The moment an object that is supposed to be stationary is seen moving around, there is a part that comes into picture, which is momentum and inertia. For example, if one body part moves the others move along with it, that is if humans lift their hands, the shoulders move too, and the entire body feels the jerk or the movement. This is not necessarily the case with the objects shown in such videos.
5. Check actions of the robot
If the video is of a robot, check for its actions. For example, robot’s ability to move one joint at a time gives them away. They have slow motions, they don’t blink like humans. There are a lot of things robots cannot do like humans. And hence, if the movements are flawless, they are jumping like humans, the video is definitely altered.
6. Use reverse image search
Take the screenshots of the video and run a reverse image search using Google or Yandex. Check if the video is available elsewhere. Check the results, you might find the original video on the first attempt. People who make CGI videos often share it in the caption of their posts and hence finding the source is important.
Any video that does not clarify your doubts should not be trusted as original and not shared before verification.
A visitor uses a phone in front of humanoid robots developed by EXRobots at the Beijing World Robot Conference. (Reuters) 
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