Seoul, South Korea Portal —
An android robot, EveR 6, entered the conductor’s podium on Friday night in Seoul to conduct a performance by the South Korean National Orchestra. This was the first such attempt in the country.
Designed by the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, the two-armed robot made its debut at the National Theater of Korea and led musicians in the country’s National Orchestra.
The humanoid-faced robot first bowed to the audience and began waving its arms to control the tempo of the live show.
“A conductor’s movements are very detailed,” said Choi Soo-yeoul, who directed Friday’s performance alongside the robot.
“The robot was able to display such detailed movements much better than I had imagined.”
Korean National Theater/Handout/Portal
EveR 6 is shown on a screen alongside human conductor Choi Soo-yeoul.
But Ever 6’s “critical weakness,” Choi said, is that it can’t listen.
Lee Young-ju, an audience who studies Korean traditional music, said that while the robot’s movements followed the rhythm flawlessly, they lacked “breath” — or the ability to keep the orchestra ready to move together and instantly get involved – which he believes is essential in performance.
“It seemed like there was still work to be done for the robot to get the job done,” Lee said.
Another viewer, Song In-ho, 62, also said that EveR 6’s performance appeared to be at elementary level.
“I guess it would be able to do the conducting all by itself if it was equipped with artificial intelligence to understand and analyze the music,” Song said.
The humanoid robot conducted three of five plays performed Friday night, including one performed jointly with Choi.
“It was a concert that showed that (robots and humans) can coexist and complement each other instead of replacing each other,” Choi said after the concert.