The Takanishi Laboratory has just perfected a flute-playing robot. Clicking on the performance movie link will bring you to a page that features an automated performance of Flight of the Bumble Bee. Thankfully there is no word on a collaborative pianist robot yet. (Accompabot? Robocompanist? Concerto droid?)
Link
(Via Neatorama)
Update of 9/13/06:
Thanks to oboeinsight for clarifying that flutists are indeed much better company, and better dressed than robots. I feel that she is also correct for calling into question the appropriateness of a flute-playing droid wearing a cowboy hat for a publicity shot. As well, those extruding wires might be a little cumbersome when turning pages in the orchestra, not too mention how the difficult climate of a city such as New York or Cleveland could wear on the quality of circuitry upon leaving a concert hall en route to a taxi or subway. On the up side, a robotic flutist would not need to clean out their instrument as frequently as their human counterparts since the computer-controlled airstream could conceiveably be configured for low humidity.
Image hosted by the Takanishi Laboratory at Waseda University
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