Robot Head Reads And Performs Sheet Music

So lifelike.

This is a creepy robotic head that can take a picture of sheet music with its webcam eyes, then use an algorithm to extract pitch, rhythm and lyrics (plus your soul), and perform the piece afterward. It's...not a concert you'd ever want to go to. Ke$ha either.

"Maybe it's one of those things that a robot can do better than ordinary people," Lin says. "It can read [the music] in 40 seconds and then close its eyes to sing." Most musicians need minutes to look over a new piece of music and still more time to memorise it. And the robot can sing songs from any culture, as long as the lyrics are written with Roman spellings, Lin says.

From a survey of 100 people stopped at random on the streets of Taipei, 50 per cent agreed that robotic singing was entertaining. About 40 per cent of the participants found the voice quality "similar to human voice", while another 40 per cent found it "not realistic, but acceptable".

The remaining 20% tried putting Miley Cyborg here in a headlock and set it her fire BECAUSE THEY'RE RESPONSIBLE CITIZENS. Just like the great Edmund Burke may or may not have ever actually said, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." So, given the opportunity, I urge you all to actually do something. "Oh I'm gonna." Like? "Watch TV till I fall asleep." God I hope they come for your first.

Hit the jump for a video of the BURN IT NOW, MELT ITS FACE OFF! in action.

Creepy robot head reads music and sings [newscientist]

Thanks to pesh and Alan, who would rather listen to their significant other on the can after eating Mexican than a robot sing.

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