Detroit Symphony hopes robot conductor will fire up students

On Wednesday, the day after the Honda robot conducted the Detroit Symphony, ASIMO warmed up a crowd of 250 schoolchildren who came to the concert hall to watch a master class with cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

ASIMO -which stands for Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility -ran, danced and kicked a soccer ball to the delight of the students.

"It was phenomenal. I had no idea of the level people were developing robots," said Sam Pernick, a 16-year-old cellist from the Detroit suburb Huntington Woods.

Eric Hwu, 14, a fellow musician from Bloomfield Hills, said he thinks a robot like ASIMO could potentially play a musical instrument, but in the meantime, it could get kids excited about technology.

"A lot of kids I know think robots are cool and would be interesting to work on," he said.

Honda Motor Co., which has been developing humanoid robots since the mid-1980s, brought ASIMO and Ma to Detroit as part of its recent $1 million donation to the symphony for music education efforts. The donation will pay for introductory music training and outreach in schools and will help young musicians get access to instruments and private lessons.

Charles Burke, the Detroit Symphony's education director, said just 30 percent of Detroit schoolchildren have access to music programs. The statistics are similar in other urban districts, Burke said, and suburban districts are also cutting music programs as the economy worsens.

"The Detroit Symphony already has a deep commitment to education, but we wanted to really put the country on notice that we are going to take it even more seriously," Burke said.

Antonio Jackson, a 15-year-old cellist who attends the Detroit School of Arts, was blown away by his chance to work with Ma during Wednesday's master class. Ma encouraged Jackson to put more emotion and physicality into his playing.