The potential of collaborative robots goes well beyond industrial applications, as YuMi has proven in recent days (blowing everyone’s mind). The two-arm robot developed by ABB has indeed conducted the Lucca Philharmonic Orchestra, along with tenor Andrea Bocelli, during the Charity Concert ” A Breath of Hope: dallo Stradivario al Robot”.
The concert took place on September 12 in Pisa, at the Verdi Theater, as part of the first Robotics Festival, and saw the ultra-clever Swiss-made device taking the center stage replacing the conductor during three of the arias performed (including the famous “La Donna è Mobile” from Verdi’s Rigoletto).
Andrea Bocelli, the world-famous Italian tenor who shared the stage with YuMi and the soprano Maria Luigia Borsi, looked delighted and satisfied – he greeted the performance with some astonishment for the flawless execution of such complex gestures, praising the excellent job made by ABB’s engineers and by Conductor Andrea Colombini, who taught the robot the proper movements.