Average age of the R & D team of the hottest robot

Tsinghua University Group robot "Mojia" band! The average age of the R & D team is less than 30 years old, so is the "player" of harp and paigu. When playing, the robot needs to actually pluck the strings and play the drums

of course, such a performance is also different from human beings. For example, when "Yao Guang" plucks the harp strings, the audience can understand that the robot has 31 fingers at the same time, and each finger can independently pluck the strings, and can simultaneously pluck a dozen strings at any time

mihaipeng, chief scientist of "ink armour" band and associate professor of Information Art Design Department of Tsinghua Academy of fine arts, was interviewed. Cheng Yu photographed a team with an average age of less than 30, but such a robot is not a simple plucking machine or drum machine. Mi Haipeng used the phrase "very difficult" several times in a row

"Many years ago, I studied and worked in Japan. In, I was lucky to participate in the research and development of the robot band in Japan. At that time, the band was a rock robot band, and there were three robots playing rock music. But I was actually more simple. The operating procedures and functional characteristics of the beam impact testing machine like Chinese traditional culture and traditional music. Since then, I began to think, is it possible for robots to play Chinese style Music. "

after returning to China in early 2014, he began to conceive of the Chinese style classical robot band in his mind. He said frankly, "so far, the development of robots has not specifically studied the performance of Chinese musical instruments."

in 2018, the conditions were ripe, and Mi Haipeng set up a team of 7 people, mainly teachers, students and graduates of Tsinghua University. Among them, there are experts in figure sculpture, Dana in classical music, and robotics researchers. Mihaipeng told that the average age of the whole team was less than 30 years old

"Mojia" band performance screen. The future laboratory of Tsinghua University provides pictures

learn a song in one minute

however, the problems faced by this team are not simple. When Mi Haipeng led his team to make the Chinese style robot band, he found that many problems could not be solved by traditional robot technology

at the same time, special musician guidance is also needed to make the robot play. "These robots have teachers. The teachers tell us what skills we should use to play, and then we translate these into engineering language, so that engineers can realize these playing skills on robots."

more than a year after the project was launched, these problems were solved one after another. In April, 2019, on the occasion of Tsinghua University's 108th anniversary, the first edition of "Mojia" band appeared and performed Chinese style repertoire for the first time in a form similar to experimental drama

what is the current level of the "Mexican armor" band? Mi Haipeng gave the answer: "theoretically, as long as we have a song and give it in a special format, we can learn it in about a minute."

"Mojia" band performance screen. Photo provided by Tsinghua University future laboratory

why should robots play

although the efficiency of learning music is much faster than that of human beings, in MI Haipeng's view, there are still many shortcomings in robot performance. For example, when musicians play, emotions can infect the audience, but when robots play, people still feel mechanical

talking about the future of "Mojia", MI Haipeng told that the names of the three robot musicians are Yu Heng, Yao Guang and Kaiyang, which are actually the names of the three stars in the Big Dipper. "In fact, after the first performance, someone asked when the other four stars would appear. We also have such a plan. Maybe we will meet you in the future."

"Mojia" band performance screen. The future laboratory of Tsinghua University provides pictures

but at the same time, MI Haipeng and his team also have more in-depth thinking. "Artificial intelligence replaces human work in various fields, and humans often panic about it. But I personally prefer to think that the relationship between robots and people is diverse. Art is a particularly good and different entry point."

he said: "our initial starting point must not be that robots can replace musicians. But it can present a different artistic style, because art is diversified. We also use robots to participate in the form of art, so that we can think about the relationship between people and robot people from more perspectives."

Mi Haipeng admitted that his teacher once said, "I don't have a way to predict the future by producing good products with accurate measurement, safety and reliability. The best way to predict the future is to create the future". "Shaping the future through the invention and creation in our hands may also be a secondary ideal of most teachers and students in our laboratory."

China news client, Beijing, January 3 - at the end of 2019, a band called "Mojia" attracted the attention of many friends and once appeared on the microblog hot search list

as for why it attracts so many eyes? That's because "Mojia" is a Chinese style band composed entirely of robots

"Mojia" band performance screen. Pictures provided by the future laboratory of Tsinghua University

robots can write poems, sing songs, and draw pictures... In the past 2019, artificial intelligence has been more and more deeply involved in human life. Now, robots start to form a band

How was such a band created? A few days ago, I chatted with mihaipeng, the chief scientist of "ink armour" band and associate professor of Information Art Design Department of Tsinghua Academy of fine arts

"Mojia" band performance screen. Pictures provided by the future laboratory of Tsinghua University

what is the length of the robot band

in December 2019, Tsinghua University released a video of the "Mojia" band playing through its official Weibo

in this video, "musicians" are all dressed in gorgeous costumes of the Tang Dynasty. Among them, there are "Yu Heng" who is responsible for playing bamboo flute, "Yao Guang" who plays konghou, "Kaiyang" who is responsible for playing paigu, and a host "small lantern"

"musicians" shook their heads and waved their hands with the rhythm of the music, and the band also played Chinese style music. In the performance, the flute sound is elegant, the harp is melodious, and the paigu is quite rhythmic. The scene of the performance, as well as the gorgeous lighting, is refreshing

however, these "musicians" in the video are robots

"Mojia" band performance screen. How does the robot play in the future laboratory of Tsinghua University

mihaipeng, chief scientist of "ink armour" band and associate professor of Information Art Design Department of Tsinghua Academy of fine arts, told that the performance mechanism of these robots is exactly the same as that of humans

"for example, a robot playing a bamboo flute makes sound by blowing air and pressing the flute hole with his fingers. Unlike human performance, the flute hole of the horizontal flute is generally below the human mouth, but the position of the robot mouth can't vent in this way. So we made a transformation, put the air inlet device horizontally on one side of the flute, and air inlet from one side simulates the function of the human mouth to let those who want to make money make money."

"Mojia" band performance screen. Future laboratory of Tsinghua University