Russian students programmed a robot to perform a traditional Caucasian dance in costume. Even the head of Russia's space agency was enthralled.

In the southern Russian city of Pyatigorsk, young engineers participating in the Mashuk Youth Forum displayed a robot wearing traditional Northern Caucasian dress, including a miniature papakha hat, while performing a lezginka. The robot served as a mascot for the forum’s Fab Lab team, which reportedly purchased its parts in the United States but assembled and programmed their creation in Russia. Diana Kadzayeva, a Fab Lab member, said she and her teammates bestowed their creation with the ancient Ossetian name Khazhbi.

Khazhbi soon caught the eye of Dmitry Rogozin, who leads Russia’s federal space agency, Roscosmos. According to the Fab Lab team, Rogozin stopped by their table to laugh and offer Khazhbi a compliment.

According to Russia’s state polling agency, 47 percent of Russians believe their jobs may someday be handed over to robots, though 80 percent of respondents said they were not concerned about their specific positions being automatized. Judging by Khazhbi’s need for constant human support, professional lezginka dancers have nothing to fear from him, though the dancing automaton has already captured hearts around the Internet.