Humanoid Robot Conducts Beethoven Symphony

me98411 writes "New Scientist is running a front page article about the Sony's QRIO bot [QRIO= Quest for Curiosity] successfully conducted an entire orchestra at the Tokyo Philharmonic Society. An impressive footage of the four bots performing a dance routine can be seen here [wmv format]"

Comments

What's the big deal?

[benchbri]

Not to say that this isn't a small achievement - I'll respect any company that can build a metre tall robot with fully articulated limbs and fingers, a robot that can break dance, throw a ball, anything like that. These are all goals homebrew robot builders could only imagine in their dreams.

But if Sony is commited to using these robots as assistants for the elderly, or even be able to walk my dog, it needs a brain.

I'm not talking about AI here; The'll need to be able to recognize faces, respond to commands, and do daily autonomous tasks (water a house plant, feed the cat, get the paper), at least as well enough to pass a Turing-like test to be useful.

So far, the only thing I've seen the QIRO do is dance. Once they demonstrate some functionality, I'll be intrested. Now it's just a toy.

Re:robot wars

[DragonMagic]

Development costs and research eat up too much money, plus the fact that robots at this point have mostly an industrial market, rather than a consumer market.

Japanese firms have constantly pushed money into development of technology that is a loss-maker early on, until its adaption is widespread and cost-effective. The US companies have stockholders to appease, and long-term profits are hardly ever in their best interests.

On the plus side, after the robotics are easier to make and have far-reaching capabilities, American companies will license or purchase them from the Japanese companies and we'll still have them.

Re:grace

[Anonymous Coward]

Was the whole thing available for download? Did you watch it all?

Perfection

[Kjeks]

It's both fascinating and scary to watch how precisely and accurate robots can move nowadays.
But what will happen in a few years when the military develops an army of robots?
Imagine a dead accurate killer robot that follows all orders blindly and never misses a single bullet.

As a band member-

[NilObject]

I've been playing Bari Sax in bands since I was in 4th grade (well, then I only had the lungs for an Alto Sax). That out of the way, the robot's conducting, if you watch the video, isn't really all that good. Not to mention, the robot's conducting was about as emotionless as it gets. Conducting is not just about waving a stick around to the tempo, it's about listening to the band and responding dynamically. You have to convey the emotions you want to be heard by the audience in the stick. Facial expressions and body language contribute to that.

And what about conducting non-professional groups? It needs to be able to respond dynamically to the tempo itself if the group start's to drag. It'll have to be able to show the pissed off look to when I miss a note too...

Question about robots.

[qualico]

Does life imitate art or visa versa?

Re:jaw-dropping..

[lommer]

Yeah, I thought the dance was pretty amazing - I had no idea that we'd come that far in robotics. However, I watched it a few times and if you focus on the feet, you realize that they're mostly just waving their arms, and their feet are making very small steps left, forward, turning, etc. The armwaving is considerably easier to manage in robotics, unless it's standing on one foot (notice that the robots didn't wave their arms much when they did that little demo of standing on one foot (mind you, I know plenty of humans that can't do that).

Still a pretty damn impressive show. The actuation in the arms was especially convincing. I'd like to see it in person actually.