South Korea has robots to cheer at its baseball games

South Korea has robots to cheer at its baseball games

When one of South Korea's least popular baseball teams can't fill the stadiums, the country has an interesting solution: using robots to cheer for its players.

The Hanwha Eagles have only won the South Korean Championship once — and it was 15 years ago, Quartz reports. Their losing streak earned the team the nickname "Hanwha Chickens," which isn't exactly drawing fans into the seats.

For those fans who don't want to be caught actually cheering on the team, they can attend games through robot proxies. The so-called "fanbots" sit in the stadium and cheer for the Eagles, even performing the wave. Meanwhile, the fans who send the robots can control them from their smartphones.

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The creepiest part? The fans who purchase the robots can place their faces on the robots, too. That way, they can be at the game without actually being at the game.

Watch a video explaining the rationale behind the robot fans below. --Meghan DeMaria

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