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

The Great Maestro...

[ackthpt]

In the not so distant future:

"Oh swell, we'll be conducted by #011278-TY-42 again, always has to have a flair for the dramatic. Too bad old #006273-UO-88 got a virus and it addled his core, he may have had a lazy servo or two, but he was easy to follow."

grace

[squashed]

Successfully conducted?

Right, with all the grace of a metronome.

Re:grace

[Talinom]

Yup.

Did it lean toward the section that was to be prominent in the next passage? Did it succeed in getting the attention of the one section (and only that section) that was dragging down the temp? How about deciding that with the particular acoustics at the venue being what they were that the flute section was a bit piercing and decide to have them play a bit quiter?

Didn't think so.

Re:grace

[Senor_Pedo]

So true. By the time the orchestra is on stage performing the piece, anyone could stand up there and wave their arms and the music would be pretty good. The real mark of a good conductor is how he prepares the orchestra in rehersal. That is where the artistic vision comes across. Once he demonstrates his idea of how the piece should sound, he can conduct with subtle nuances that are easily understood by the orchestra. But only with good preparation is that possible.

The Three Laws of Robotics

[Anonymous Coward]

Lets hope Sony has designed "The Three Laws of Robotics" into these little bots.

Surely this would stop them from forming their own boy bands, or should I say Robo Bands.....

"Back street roboz"

That poor robot...

[Saeger]

With a name like "QUEERIO", that poor robot is going to get teased by all the other macho hetero bots until one day it just *snaps* and takes over the world Columbine-style. That's how it happens you know.

--

Three Laws of Musical Robotics

[AtariAmarok]

1. A robot may not injure a Beatle, or, through inaction, allow a Beatle to come to harm.

2. A robot must obey the orders given it by roadies except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not mean playing in a rap band.

Ha!

[Sacarino]

Those little bastards dance better than I do...

Obligatory Styx Quote

[The_Rippa]

Domo arigato, Conductor Roboto.

Re:What?

[rasafras]

Q-RIO -> CURIO, I would imagine.

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.

Damn stupid geeks

[JohnGrahamCumming]

Who thought of this? Don't you geeks realize that we're not getting the chicks as it is because we can't dance and then you go invent a robot that dances better than us. You know you're not going to be able to send this robot to a nightclub to pick 'em up for you.

Jeepers.

How about inventing a robot that beats up jocks instead?

On the other hand I'd love to see this robot take on a Dance Dance Revolution machine.

John.

Damnit!

[Neil Blender]

I just sent in my application to conducting school. By the time I graduate, all the conducting jobs will be outsourced to robots. Oh well, I guess we should have all seen it coming, much like what happend to assembly and manufacturing plants in the 80s.

I don't know which is more impressive

[way2trivial]

the video, or the fact that it still loaded for me near instantly a full 20 minutes after it was posted to slash

Question

[Guppy06]

""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."

How is this different from, say, a metronome?

Lawrence Welk Digitized

[thirty2bit]

And a 01 and a 10 and a 11....

Re:Symphonies are self-conducted anyway

[Capt'n Hector]

Obviously you've never played in an orchestra. The conductor by far is the most important person out there, from your high school orchestra to the Vienna Philharmonic. The problem with your theory is that every musician has a different theory as to how a piece should sound. Try buying a few CDs of the same concerto played by different people. They are entirely different in all ways except the notes. The conductor is there to make sure all the musicians are playing the same version of the piece, not their own personal rendition of it.

jaw-dropping..

[moviepig.com]

I may be naive, but I thought the robot-dance footage was astonishing.

My immediate reaction was that it was CGI movie fakery. In fact, many moviegoers think the "perfect" motion of CGI objects is not merely unrealistic but also physically impossible.

Watch this footage, and think again.