A three-armed robot imitating a human conductor made its debut in Dresden, Germany, conducting a piece of music specially composed to highlight its strengths, Agence France-Presse reported on October 13.
The robot conductor, consisting of three separate arms-like structures with a Star Wars-like lightsaber-like baton in his "hands", conducted the musicians of the Dresden Symphony Orchestra in two performances over the weekend.
The robot is trained to recognize beats and cue intensity, and its three arms are able to move independently.
This ability is on full display in composer and pianist Andreas · Gontrach's Semiconductor Masterpiece for the Dresden Symphony Orchestra.
The robot conductor is reportedly able to direct the three parts of a symphony orchestra with three arms, something that a human conductor can.
In his performance on the 13th, Guntrach said that the robot conductor was inspired by scientists from the Technical University of Dresden, and that the "collaborative robots" they developed were not designed to replace humans, but to work better with humans.
According to the report, Guntrach and the Technical University of Dresden spent two years jointly developing and training the robot conductor.
The process of teaching robots how to command "made me realize in a whole new way what a wonderful being humans are," Guntrach said. He said they patiently taught the robot "beautiful arm movements to make them easy to understand by the orchestra members."
The robot conductor's arm also conducted the premiere of Willan · Reisman's "Cross Knot," a work that required different instruments to be played simultaneously at different tempoes.
