A robot conducts an orchestra in Germany

The robot – three separate articulated arms, each carrying wands reminiscent of the lightsabers from the film Star Wars – conducted musicians, very human for their part, during two performances of the Dresden Symphony Orchestra (in eastern Germany), Sunday October 13.

The robot was trained to recognize beat time and indicate dynamics, with the different arms able to move independently of each other.

Passage of the video to watch from 01:41:48

He was able to provide insight into his abilities by performing Semiconductor’s Masterpiece, a work by the German composer and pianist Andreas Gundlach, which had been commissioned by the orchestra.

The robot used its three arms to separately guide the three parts of the orchestra, which would not have been possible with a single human conductor.

Speaking at Sunday’s performance, Andreas Gundlach said the idea for the robot was inspired by scientists at the Technical University of Dresden who are developing “cobots, collaborative robots which are not intended to replace human beings, but to work with them. It then took two years to develop and train the robot conductor in collaboration with the university.

According to Andreas Gundlach, the process needed to teach the machine the movements to conduct an orchestra “made me understand in a completely new way how wonderful a creation human beings are.” He spoke of the patient work that had to be done to instill in the machine “aesthetic arm movements that can be well captured by the orchestra”.

Two of the robot’s arms also guided the musicians during the premiere of #kreuzknoten by Wieland Reissmann, another piece involving instruments played simultaneously at different tempos.