A robot conductor led a live orchestra performance

Just a month after humanoid robot Pepper conducted a Buddhist burial ceremony, a robo-contemporary has conducted the world-renowned Lucca Philharmonic orchestra alongside operatic greats such as Andrea Bocelli. Do robots need a heart to complete tasks of passion? As shown by YuMi, the robotic maestro designed by Swiss Firm ABB, maybe not. Under the fresco-covered ceiling of a theatre in Pisa, Italy, the two-armed YuMi directed a program titled "A breath of hope: from the Stradivarius to the robot" for guests attending the first International Festival of Robotics. YuMi's movements are incredibly fluid and nuanced -- as you'd expect the gestures of a world-class composer to be -- with the orchestra's resident conductor Andrea Colombini saying that "everything was perfect, especially in the length and in the speed of the gesture, which is very important."