Sex and Robots? Not This Time … Meet the Maestro Robots!

This amazing piece of engineering includes robot lips and lungs which, together with the dexterity of the robot’s hands, enable the robot to imitate the vibrations emanating from a human mouth. Its début performance caused one reviewer to claim that the robot played as well as Louis Armstrong!

You can check out the robot’s trumpeting skills on You Tube at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1etIeZFm14

Another Japanese robot virtuoso is a flautist named WF-4RIV, developed at Waseda University in Tokyo over a period of almost 20 years. The latest version was unveiled at the BioRob 2008 conference in Arizona last October, giving a remarkable performance of ‘The Flight of the Bumble Bee’ with almost no mistakes.

The robot’s lungs are created from two air-tight acrylic cases, with a bellows that simulates breathing, and the lungs and mouth have been designed to simulate the way an expert human player controls the flow of air from their lungs. Its lips have the elasticity of human lips, with metal pins in them to control their shape. The robot’s tongue allows it to perform a technique known as ‘double-tonguing’, by which the tongue stops and releases the airflow at twice the normal speed - an essential skill for playing fast pieces such as ‘The Flight of the Bumble Bee’.

It is even possible for the robot to create what is called ‘vibrato’, changing the amount and frequency of the airflow - a skill that human flautists often take years to master. The robot also has ‘eyes’ - two cameras that allow it to see and interact with other musicians, making it possible for it to play duets.

The ability of some robots to collaborate with human musicians was seen to remarkable effect last May, when Honda’s Asimo robot conducted the renowned Detroit Symphony Orchestra in a performance of ‘The Impossible Dream’, from the musical ‘The Man of La Mancha’. Asimo’s developers had been sent a video of the orchestra’s regular human conductor performing the same work, and had programmed Asimo to simulate the human movements in time with the music. Before starting to conduct, the robot waved at the audience and said, “Hello everyone”.

After this greeting it went into action, gesturing with both hands, nodding in different directions at members of the orchestra, and generally moving like a professional conductor. At the conclusion of the performance the robot bowed to the audience while receiving an enthusiastic response, with applause and shouts of: “Encore!” Asimo too enjoyed the experience. “It is absolutely thrilling to perform with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra,” he said. “This is a magnificent concert hall.”

- David Levy