Buck Rogers and the 21st Century ... orchestra



  • Does look a bit like Twiki doesn't it? That's none other than Honda's ASIMO [url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/05/14/entertainment/e045146D63.DTL]conducting the Detroit Symphony[/url]

    So this is where we're going. It doesn't stop at FruityLoops generated Techno.  Thank God Leonard Bernstein wasn't around to see this.

    Actually I'm not that put off. It's a gimick and I doubt we'll see this repeated much if at all in the future and also Honda was just getting some PR off a good deed

    Honda brought the robot to Detroit to highlight its recent $1 million gift to the orchestra for a music education fund.

    Still - it is a bit scary. When ASIMO learns how to dance ballet I'm really going to be scared ... 



  • @medialint said:

    When ASIMO learns how to dance ballet I'm really going to be scared ... 
     

    Dancing's just an extension of walking, which ASIMO already does.

    I'll get scared when ASIMO heads out in search of more input and a Dr. Pepper, WITHOUT having being programmed to do so. 



  • @medialint said:

    So this is where we're going
     

    That reminds me of this Toyota robot with enough agility in the fingers / arms to play the violin:

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

     Another really cool device are these "music boxes" that are made of a half dozen or more midi controlled instruments playing songs.. most of them neatly arranged in a closet, or somtimes in the roof of a gazebo. http://www.ragtimewest.com/page7000.htm




  • I'll be scared when it starts posting comments on forums asking to "Plz send me teh codez". 



  •  @DOA said:

    I'll be scared when it starts posting comments on forums asking to "Plz send me teh codez". 

     OK, that comment was made out of pure win! :)

    Who was it who said that to create robots that mimic humans, we should try to create Artificial Intelligence, but Artificial Stupidity? 



  •  I think they have (or try to spread) a bit of misconception about the real job of a conductor. That part of his job that starts long before the orchestra appears to the audience.



  • @MarcB said:

    I'll get scared when ASIMO heads out in search of more input and a Dr. Pepper, WITHOUT having being programmed to do so. 

    That would only worry me if they forgot to disarm the laser first.



  • @Tsela said:

    Who was it who said that to create robots that mimic humans,
     

    Don't forget that humans are how robots reproduce themselves. And apparently we'll soon be their D-cells too.



  • @ammoQ said:

     I think they have (or try to spread) a bit of misconception about the real job of a conductor. That part of his job that starts long before the orchestra appears to the audience.

     

    Oh ... just the bit about choosing, modifying and/or creating the particular arrangement they'll perform, making aesthetic decisions about  tempo and dynamics, individual and small group rehearsals, full scale rehearsals, replying to angry e-mails from musician's union reps ... 

    Nah ... all they do is wave a stick around. :-) 



  • Apparently his conducting was a bit rubbish. He was basically repeating a programmedtaught set of movements. For example, when at one point the orchestra slipped a little out of time, a real conductor would notice that and correct it, ASIMO couldn't. One musician described it as 'like being conducted by a metronome'.

    Perfect tempo though, which is something hard for humans.

    I reckon it'll be an easier task for computers to compose than conduct.



  •  @m0ffx said:

    when at one point the orchestra slipped a little out of time, a real conductor would notice that and correct it, ASIMO couldn't
    So it's basically a bunch of instructions to move the arms. And yet that's what the media focuses on. Oh, look a robot conductor. And the really cool stuff goes unnoticed. Things like being able to keep your balance to walk. You know how friggin difficult that is? It takes humans a year just to barely stand up.

    Having to constantly drag the common denominator towards the future is really tiring... and it's always the same:

    Scientists: Hey, we figured out a way to use electromagnetic waves, compact electronics and complex computer systems to convey information from anywhere to anywhere!

    General population:  Oooog?

    Scientists: With this gadget you can talk to your dumb-ass friends and relatives anywhere anytime.

    General population:  Woo, gimme! 

     



  • @DOA said:

    @m0ffx said:
    when at one point the orchestra slipped a little out of time, a real conductor would notice that and correct it, ASIMO couldn't

    So it's basically a bunch of instructions to move the arms. And yet that's what the media focuses on. Oh, look a robot conductor.

    It was a media stunt intended to produce exactly that effect, so they did the bare minimum necessary to achieve it. If practical applicability had been a factor, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have been difficult to have it synch with the orchestra.

     



  • @brazzy said:

    If practical applicability had been a factor, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have been difficult to have it synch with the orchestra.

    Actually, I would imagine this standing near the top in terms of difficulty


    While I'm no expert in audio analysis, determining what instruments take part in a musical piece seems like a pretty difficult task. The ASIMO would need to not only determine that in real-time but also compare it to a prerecorded set of samples. Adapting to discrepancies looks to me to be almost impossible.



  • @archivator said:

    While I'm no expert in audio analysis, determining what instruments take part in a musical piece seems like a pretty difficult task. The ASIMO would need to not only determine that in real-time but also compare it to a prerecorded set of samples. Adapting to discrepancies looks to me to be almost impossible.

     

    Well, it might be possible if you rig up the individual instruments with sensors or microphones. I think that would count pretty definitely as cheating though.Also, that would still give you none of the actual improvising talent that makes a good conductor.



  • @archivator said:

    @brazzy said:

    If practical applicability had been a factor, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have been difficult to have it synch with the orchestra.

    Actually, I would imagine this standing near the top in terms of difficulty

    While I'm no expert in audio analysis, determining what instruments take part in a musical piece seems like a pretty difficult task. The ASIMO would need to not only determine that in real-time but also compare it to a prerecorded set of samples. Adapting to discrepancies looks to me to be almost impossible.

    m0ffx was speaking of the speed of the orchestra as a whole, and that shouldn't be hard to analyze at all. I don't really know anything about orchestra music, but shouldn the different instruments keep in synch pretty much automatically since they hear each other?

     As for separating the instruments, that used to be considered next to impossible, but there has recently been a pretty spectacular breakthrough in that area:

    http://www.celemony.com/cms/index.php?id=dna_qa 

    Getting it done in realtime is then just a matter of throwing enough hardware at it. 



  • @brazzy said:

    Getting it done in realtime is then just a matter of throwing enough hardware at it. 

     



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