congrats on the birth of your child.
good news on a rainy day...
----- Original Message -----
From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "313 list" <313@hyperreal.org>
Sent: Wednesday, May 14, 2008 10:41 AM
Subject: (313) Robot conductor debuts in Detroit
Haven't got much time to contribute at the moment due to early arrival
of my first baby girl (Laurel Brunton, 1 week old) but had to point
out this story!!
"When does the conductor answer to the semiconductor? When a robot is
leading the symphony.
Last night a 4ft-tall automaton with a baton called Asimo conducted
the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Mitch Leigh's The
Impossible Dream from the Man from La Mancha.
Asimo (Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility) greeted the audience with
the words "hello, everyone," before waving to the orchestra.
Asimo is the latest robot designed by Honda, which has been developing
walking robots since 1986.
It can run, walk on uneven slopes and respond to simple voice
commands. It can also recognise faces with its camera eyes. Honda
eventually intends its robots to be companions for the elderly or to
assist schoolchildren at road crossings.
But Asimo's musical repertoire is limited. Unable to respond to the
musicians, last night's performance was a case of elaborate
"baton-synching", mimicking the actions of a conductor who had been
videotaped before.
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.
"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."
Nevertheless, Asimo wowed the audience and even impressed some of the
musicians. "The movements are still a little stiff, but very
humanlike, much more fluid than I thought," said bassist Larry
Hutchinson."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/may/14/usa
cheers
Jason
