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Thursday, May 15, 2008
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Conductor on semiconductor

Robot conducts Detroit Symphony Orchestra, live

— Photo: AP

IMPOSSIBLE DREAM: ASIMO conducts the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in Detroit.

DETROIT: The lights dimmed, the sold-out hall grew hushed and out walked the conductor — shiny, white and 1.3 m tall.

ASIMO, a robot designed by Honda Motor Company, met its latest challenge on Tuesday night: Conducting the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in a performance of ‘The Impossible Dream’ from ‘Man of La Mancha.’

“Hello, everyone,” ASIMO said to the audience in a childlike voice, then waved to the orchestra.

As it conducted, it perfectly mimicked the actions of a conductor, nodding its head at various sections and gesturing with one or both hands. ASIMO took a final bow to enthusiastic shouts from the audience.

“It is absolutely thrilling to perform with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. This is a magnificent concert hall,” ASIMO said.

Later, cellist Yo-Yo Ma joined ASIMO onstage to receive an award for his efforts in music education. Ma bent to ASIMO’s height and shook its hand. Ma performed later on the program but did not take questions from the media about ASIMO.

A Honda spokeswoman said it was the first time ASIMO has conducted an orchestra, and it may be the first time any robot has conducted a live performance. ASIMO stands for Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility.

ASIMO has its limits. Its 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 cannot 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. “The movements are still a little stiff, but very humanlike, more fluid than I thought,” Mr. Hutchinson said.

Honda has been developing walking robots since 1986. — AP

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