Video: ASIMO burns as Yo-Yo Ma fiddles
Stand down oh gentle readers and defenders of the flesh, we're getting reports from Detroit that the baton wielding ASIMO did not direct the human race to its doom. Instead, Yo-Yo Ma is safe and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra concert went off without a hitch while netting the DSO a cool million for the musical education of Grosse Pointe's children. Of course, the Honda-built robot wasn't so lucky as he got "keyed" on his walk back through the parking lot. We kid, we kid.
Update: Video added after the break.
[Thanks, Funke]
Update: Video added after the break.
[Thanks, Funke]



















Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Britboyj27 @ May 14th 2008 1:51AM
I, for one, welcome our robotic symphony conducting overlords.
logikgr @ May 14th 2008 2:07AM
I, for one, despise our cliché joke posting Engadget readers.
Sam @ May 14th 2008 2:09AM
Freaking slashdotter.
Reader @ May 14th 2008 2:35AM
What's weird is that people on slashdot actually seem to find those memes funny...
j_g_puff @ May 14th 2008 4:43AM
Come on, give Britboy a break. If ever there was a time when this needed to be said, its now...
David @ May 14th 2008 1:45PM
But can he play Doom?
Stem $ell @ May 14th 2008 2:30PM
Bach to the future....
jonnyb1952 @ May 18th 2008 10:06PM
gosh.. you beat me too it lmho
gabe @ May 14th 2008 1:52AM
"I am awesomo 4000"
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2c/802_image_14.jpg
pull my finger
stefan @ May 14th 2008 1:53AM
that's ok, Asimo is three laws safe.
silverblackvoid @ May 14th 2008 2:10AM
you may never know for sure. the laws can be overridden
Jon @ May 14th 2008 8:17AM
Not overridden.....reinterpreted... didn't you watch the movie?? ;-)
hans @ May 14th 2008 8:36AM
Sorry, must have read the books...
iruka @ May 14th 2008 2:00AM
congrats asimo!
now honda should make more of you
siberdog @ May 14th 2008 2:21AM
It was all pre-programmed though.
"The Impossible Dream" was in one of Honda's best ads:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fB_1gPRCLCo
Ari Moshe @ May 14th 2008 6:49AM
That commercial is awesome
duffman @ May 14th 2008 2:01AM
I want to know how Honda managed to get one of the most popular living composers to play for a robot. Seriously.
Ridgecity @ May 14th 2008 2:17AM
$.
That simple. It works.
Zorque @ May 14th 2008 2:25AM
Robots are awesome, that's how.
xerxesdaphat @ May 14th 2008 11:01AM
What living composer would that be?
Mr Ma is a cellist.
Jeffery @ May 14th 2008 2:08AM
LOL! Asimo is cute! I wonder if the robot is programmed to check errors of the music too....
Ridgecity @ May 14th 2008 2:16AM
I never thought I could see the day a robot could raise his arms up and down to the rhythm of the music and take all the credit and applause.
Thank you Honda. Now you need to get to work the climbing stairs thing...
Funke, Tobias Dr. @ May 14th 2008 2:22AM
"Where is the NHK TV camera? Hello Tokyo!"
dannythepetrock @ May 14th 2008 2:20AM
they took our jooobs!
Funke, Tobias Dr. @ May 14th 2008 2:29AM
I found some video from Honda's media site if anybody is interested:
http://www.hondanews.com/categories/1085/search/videos?q=08AsimoDSO&s=honda
ERTW2011 @ May 15th 2008 6:57PM
they took er jerbs!!!!!!!!!!
vdogg89 @ May 14th 2008 5:49PM
more like, "dey took air jooorbs"
phantomo.lui @ May 14th 2008 2:21AM
@Ridgecity, Asimo already climb stairs.... long ago...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1Y29q9pk30
iruka @ May 14th 2008 3:03AM
I think he meant fixing ASIMO so he can climb stairs without falling off.
iruka @ May 14th 2008 3:10AM
*it
happy_penguin @ May 14th 2008 2:36AM
"while netting the DSO a cool million for the musical education of Gross Point's children. "
Say what?? Those rich little bastards?
stickmanfc73_ @ May 14th 2008 2:46AM
I was thinking the same exact thing. Since when did Grosse Point need to raise money... (GP btw is like the OPPOSITE of Detroit).
Thomas Ricker @ May 14th 2008 3:32AM
Indeed, the statement was purposely snide. I lived in Detroit (and Flint) for about 5 years... and drove a Honda.
Thomas
happy_penguin @ May 14th 2008 4:23AM
Nobody lives in Flint.
Doug @ May 14th 2008 2:01PM
Yeah, I was confused by this as well.
Since when does Grosse Pointe need donations? $1mil would have done the kids of Detroit a lot more good methinks.
az1324 @ May 14th 2008 2:37AM
Whatever. He's only a semi-conductor.
Chird @ May 14th 2008 3:33AM
OMG PWNZ!!!! err... wait... OMG PUNZ!!!!!!!!! ah there we go...
Gus @ May 14th 2008 4:01AM
omg i love you
Flaminsteve @ May 14th 2008 7:18AM
lol Best Comment Ever!!!!!!!!
iBSOD for iPhone @ May 17th 2008 11:20AM
hahaha, you made my day :)
happy_penguin @ May 14th 2008 2:39AM
Oh, and it's Grosse Point, not Gross point.
Joe Commisso @ May 14th 2008 2:59AM
It's actually Grosse Pointe.
happy_penguin @ May 14th 2008 3:03AM
Dammit. I couldn't even correct correctly!
Ridgecity @ May 14th 2008 3:06AM
Oh, I know, i just don't want ASIMO to think he's better than us, making classical music and stuff like that...
Joe Commisso @ May 14th 2008 3:07AM
It's the thought that counts! :)
Brian @ May 14th 2008 3:23AM
Dear Honda,
Please make more asimos.
If you sell them for the price of a motorcycle (impossible at this point, I'm sure), this would be the must have gadget of the decade.
Chird @ May 14th 2008 3:35AM
decade/SINCE THE BEGINNING OF TIME!!!!!!!
iBSOD for iPhone @ May 17th 2008 11:22AM
I'm looking forward to see the new version... they should be able to shrink the backpack to make it look less astronaut-ish.
Josh @ May 14th 2008 3:49AM
This reminds me when I was a music major and I'd play back things in Finale and they always sounded so mechanical and terrible.
TBird1 @ May 14th 2008 4:37AM
Asimo's are great - hard to keep on top of the the 500 x AAA size batteries it needs to run on though - and boy - have you ever tried to get one out of the packing (all those twist ties etc) :-)