Robot 'conductor' steals the show from Italy's top tenor
Robot 'conductor' steals the show from Italy's top tenor
By lla IDE September 12, 2017
YuMi, designed by Switzerland's ABB, conducts the Lucca
Philharmonic Orchestra on Tuesday at the Teatro Verdi in Pisa, Italy (AFP
Photo/MIGUEL MEDINA)
Pisa (Italy) (AFP) - Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli's voice
soars to the rafters of the Tuscan theatre, but all eyes are on the orchestral
conductor beside him -- a robot with an apparent penchant for Verdi.
The concert in the heart of Pisa is a world first, with
two mechanical "arms" conducting live music at the grand finale of
the first International Festival of Robotics.
The Swiss-designed YuMi sweeps its baton skywards with
one hand, while the other curves around in a caress that spurs on the strings
as the operatic "La Donna E' Mobile" ("Woman Is Fickle) reaches
its climax.
But music lovers beware: YuMi can conduct set pieces, but
cannot improvise, react or interact with the musicians.
"It was extremely difficult to train," says
Andrea Colombini, the conductor of the Lucca Philharmonic Orchestra which
performed with Bocelli and soprano Maria Luigia Borsi on Tuesday.
YuMi, designed by robotics leader ABB, was taught to
mimic Colombini's gestures.
The maestro said the automaton was far more sophisticated
than its "rival" Asimo, the white four-foot (1.2-metre) robot
designed by Honda which conducted the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in 2008.
"We're not talking about Asimo's limited
up-and-down, one-arm movement... YuMi is extremely flexible and its arms have
the same mobility as mine," he told AFP.
YuMi does not stand, however: It sits on a pedestal that
gives it the support it needs to move its long arms.
- 'Just an arm, not the brain' -
It's not a particularly friendly looking robot, and
Colombini acknowledged that they did not get on at first.
"It was not love at first sight. At the start I kept
getting wound up because it kept getting stuck, and when the robot gets stuck
it takes 25 to 30 minutes to reset it," he said.
"It took a long time," he added: Training YuMi
to perform six minutes of music "took 17 hours of work."
Borsi looked apprehensive as she stood in her shocking
pink concert gown, waiting for the robot to begin directing the classic soprano
aria "O Mio Babbino Caro" ("Oh My Beloved Father") by
Puccini.
The effect is somewhat odd: the musicians watch for the
first baton stroke and gamely follow it throughout the aria, but the
traditional vitality of a human conductor -- keeping tempo with the whole body,
even through the breathing -- is missing.
Bocelli, who is visually impaired, had to remember the
tempo YuMi had been taught down to the second.
Any unprogrammed "accelerando" or
"rallentando" would have been disastrous, as he had no way to get the
conductor to follow his lead.
"There's no way it could replace the sensitivity and
emotion of a conductor, because a robot has no soul. It's just an arm, not the
brain, not the heart," Colombini said.
Later, when the conductor himself takes to the stage, his
whole body sways and thrusts -- and the difference is startling.
"There's not much room unfortunately for
improvisation, you have to go with the robot," says American violinist
Brad Repp, who took part in the concert.
"It's a cool effect... but there's no way this could
be the future," he said.
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