Honda robot conducts Detroit Symphony to warm response
May 23rd, 2008 by Linda Naiman
From USA TODAY
“The lights dimmed, the sold-out hall grew hushed and out walked the conductor — shiny, white and 4 feet, 3 inches tall.
ASIMO, a robot designed by Honda Motor Co., met its latest challenge Tuesday evening: Conducting the Detroit Symphony in a performance of The Impossible Dream from Man of La Mancha… ASIMO’s engineers programmed the robot to mimic Charles Burke, the Detroit Symphony’s education director, as he conducted the piece in front of a pianist about six months ago. But it can’t respond to the musicians.
During the first rehearsal, the orchestra lost its place when ASIMO began to slow the tempo, something a human conductor would have sensed and corrected, said bassist Larry Hutchinson.
“It’s not a communicative device. It simply is programmed to do a sense of gestures,” said Leonard Slatkin, the orchestra’s musical director. “If the orchestra decides to go faster, there’s nothing the robot can do about it. Hopefully, I keep that under control.”
But several musicians also said ASIMO was more realistic than they expected. What an amazing story, and a fine example of how art and science inform each other.
Watch the performance on Youtube:
