Humboldt University’s Neurorobotics Research Laboratory in Berlin, Germany spent two years creating Myon, a humanoid boy-sized robot who played the star role in the Komische Oper opera’s newest show: “My Square Lady.” (via Komische Oper)
Since the beginning of robotics, people have wondered at the possibility of artificial intelligence matching or surpassing human intelligence. Beyond artificial intelligence, some even wonder if robots can feel. That’s why Berlin’s Komische Oper just opened “My Square Lady,” an opera that explores a robot’s ability to learn human emotions.
“My Square Lady” follows Myon, a boy-sized humanoid that lives in a world full of humans and wonders if he will ever be their equal. The crowd tracks along with the small robot as it discovers earth through its people and songs. All the more interesting is Myon does not have a backstage controller, but rather leads the show all on his own.
Myon is the brainchild of the European Union’s Artificial Language Evolution on Autonomous Robot (ALEAR) project. The initiative was created to explore the expansion of robotic cognition and language development. Myon was created as part of the project at the Humboldt University’s Neurorobotics Research Laboratory in Berlin, Germany.
Researchers and cast members worked together for two full years to prepare for the opera, including programming Myon to sing, move and respond to its environment. While it’s a great illustration of the future of cognitive robotics, it isn’t without its issues.
Opera singer Bernhard Hansky openly discussed his qualms with the bot. He stated that because Myon functions independently, its behavior was inconsistent. It changed the key and pace of its singing during performances, keeping its human co-actors on their toes. During one performance Myon shut down entirely, frustrating the production crew and patrons alike.
While Myon demonstrates the robot takeover of modern society is far, far away, credit is due to the researchers who created the indie bot. Myon was one of only a few robots to make the big stage, and its developers should be proud. Hansky isn’t crazy about working with robots in the future, but who knows, maybe everyone will have to get used to it.
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