This one's has to sting a little bit for the Big 3. On May 13th, Honda's coming to D-town with its ASIMO robot, which will (hopefully) walk on stage and open a special performance with Yo-Yo Ma by successfully conducting the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in a rousing rendition of "Impossible Dream". Not only do General Motors, Ford Motor Company and Chrysler LLC lack a humanoid robot that scares us every time we see it walk, dance, skip or run, but it certainly doesn't have one that can wave a stick in the air. Honda is working with the DSO to bring music eduction to kids and has gifted the big band with a $1 million donation to create The Power of Dreams Music Education Fund. As for ASIMO, we'll be impressed when he drops the baton and picks up Yo-Yo Ma's violin to play a flawless performance of Mozart's 4th. Well here's an Aw Snap! for Honda: Toyota already built that robot.
[Source: Engadget]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
nissanfreak87 @ Apr 23rd 2008 7:11PM
sweet! Classical music AND robots? Can't go wrong there!
Pete @ Apr 23rd 2008 7:14PM
How can anyone take this guy seriously when he has MASSIVE grammatical errors in the first sentence of his story. Learn your verb tenses!!!
Scott G @ Apr 23rd 2008 7:26PM
Blawg blawg blawg blawg web 2.0
HAWC1506 @ Apr 23rd 2008 7:24PM
Yeah, he's got his facts wrong too.
DSO is NOT a band. It is a SYMPHONY.
Yo-yo Ma plays CELLO.
Pete @ Apr 23rd 2008 8:04PM
John Neff seriously shouldn't be contributing if he can't even get someone to proof his copy before he posts it...
Ford Wannup @ Apr 23rd 2008 9:03PM
Dude...never mind the grammar. Have you read his writings on automotive companies' financial performance? Anything he couldn't cut and paste, he was always so far off the mark.
Big John @ Apr 24th 2008 12:03AM
How about you people put up or shutup and apply to write for Autoblog?
Pete @ Apr 24th 2008 8:59AM
I make more money writing for GM.
John R @ Apr 23rd 2008 7:26PM
Detroit 3, All your bases are belong to us...
BluePariah @ Apr 24th 2008 8:37AM
Ha! Exactly, what a big, old skool F You to the Big Three, a robot conducting the DSO mere blocks from GM HQ...
I've seen the DSO a few times and they're good, but I still have absolutely NO clue what a conductor is actually supposed to be doing, so I can't say whether a robot can do it or not. Though, the ABSOLUTELY, must dress it up as Mozart...
Oh yeah, and AB, Yo-Yo Ma plays the cello... (Hint: Wikipedia is your friend...)
John Starnes @ Apr 23rd 2008 8:30PM
cool robot....can you say 'Cylon'? Actually I think it is "orchestra" not "symphony", which I believe is the music the orchestra plays. The movements of this robot are amazing!
Mario @ Apr 23rd 2008 9:53PM
Conduct a symphony? The real question is if it will play fire and flames on expert.
Cameron @ Apr 23rd 2008 10:38PM
Nice
colin @ Apr 23rd 2008 11:18PM
yeah, uh, yo-yo man does not play the violin. But good try, you got the right section and all.
DW @ Apr 23rd 2008 11:32PM
actually HAWC1056, DSO is not a symphony either, its an orchestra. a symphony is a musical piece.
and like others have said.....Yo-Yo Ma plays the Cello, not the violin
innoc3nt @ Apr 24th 2008 4:48AM
Actually, DW, the word "symphony" is also very commonly used to colloquially refer to a symphonic orchestra. I've been a musician for almost two decades. Never heard of the "London Symphony" or "Chicago Symphony?"
DW @ Apr 24th 2008 11:09AM
correct me if i'm wrong.....but aren't those just simplified names of the "London Symphony Orchestra" and the "Chicago Symphony Orchestra"?
DW @ Apr 24th 2008 11:11AM
sorry I missed what you said about them being "very commonly used to colloquially refer to a symphonic orchestra"
still stands.....you proved my point there
RLQ @ Apr 23rd 2008 11:45PM
Remember Skynet.
Pete @ Apr 24th 2008 9:01AM
Yeah, it's now know as Google.