It is the ultimate proof that man and machine can make beautiful music together!

YuMi, the robot conductor, has made his opera debut in the Italian city of Pisa.

The humanoid robot showed no signs of nerves as it raised its baton to conduct the Lucca Philharmonic orchestra at the Verdi Theatre

It was coached and monitored by maestro and the resident orchestra’s conductor Andrea Colombini.

“The flexibility of the arms of YuMi is absolutely unthinkable,” he said.

“Not even incredible, unthinkable for a machine. It is absolutely fantastic. And the technicians were fantastic just to make everything perfect, especially in the length and in the speed of the gesture which is very important.”

A robot conducted Andrea Bocelli and an Italian orchestra in a world first https://t.co/GPh3EPj5w7 pic.twitter.com/mwr14r9yt8— The Local Italy (@TheLocalItaly) 13 septembre 2017

Celebrated tenor Andrea Bocelli, no less, performed alongide YuMi at a charity concert marking the First International Festival of Robotics.

The two-armed robot, designed by Swiss firm ABB, conducted three of the 18 pieces performed on Tuesday night, including the famous aria La Donna e’ Mobile, from Verdi’s opera Rigoletto.

An epic show by ABB’s #YuMirobot conducting the #Opera!Read more: https://t.co/VTYi85oOHX#Robotics #Orchestra #music pic.twitter.com/D5HEETyiOs— ABB Robotics (@ABBRobotics) 13 septembre 2017

Despite the success of YuMi, whose name is derived from the phrase ‘you and me’, there are limitations.

The robot is not able to improvise and any unexpected change in tempo from the musicians would have been ruinous.

with Reuters