Piano Playing Puppet Captures Our Hearts in Viral Video

On Tuesday, a sweet video of a robot puppet rollin’ through SF hit Youtube and instantly captured everyone’s hearts. The adorable plush plays her keyboard to Vanessa’s Carlton’s “A Thousand Miles” while visiting some of SF’s iconic spots like The Painted Ladies, Dolores Park, Balmy Alley, The Golden Gate Bridge and even had a solo show in Golden Gate Park.

Watch the video here:

There are several reasons this adorable video has gone viral – First, it’s mimicking the original “Thousand Miles” 2002 video with Vanessa Carlton herself where she is playing her own piano on the streets of LA. The robot puppet is even wearing the same outfit and hairstyle as the original version. Matching the video all the way down to the piano’s filagree.

Also, i got all of our favorite places. When locals like us think of The City, our hearts are tied to all of these beloved spaces. We can put ourselves right there with the puppet and this catchy tune is one many of us know by heart as well.

Robot Puppet at The Golden Gate Bridge – photo is a screen shot from the Youtube Video

Who’s behind the Robot Puppet?

A local aerospace engineer named Ben Howard created the cute puppet. He used a decommissioned food delivery robot as the base. Then, with some help from his friends, Noah Klugman (an engineer) and Lane Powell (a lawyer). The project started up 2 years ago. In just 3 days, the video already has over 45,000 views on Youtube.

“I learned to play her song on piano as a kid, along with a zillion other people. Her old music is just classic, and she’s still putting out new great music,” Howard said to SFGATE during a phone interview last week.

Thanks Howard and Co. for the endless smiles this video will bring all of us!

Makin’ their way through SF singin’ – – photo is a screen shot from the Youtube Video

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