--- title: "Robot Plays Cello With Live Orchestra" description: "  For the first time ever, a robot has played a cello live on stage during a performance by an orchestra in Sweden. As Reuters reports, a pair of industrial robotic arms developed by researcher and composer Fredrik Gran played a piece by Swedish composer Jacob Muhlrad alongside the Malmo Symphony Orchestra. Footage of the […]" date: "2024-10-28" modified: "2024-10-28" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/robot-plays-cello-live-orchestra" categories: - "Robotics" - "Robots and Machines" tags: - "music" - "musicians" - "robot arms" - "the digest" --- # Robot Plays Cello With Live Orchestra ![For perhaps the first time ever, a robot played a cello live on stage during a performance by a symphony orchestra.]() *\Image: Strad Magazine via YouTube\* ## Final Bow For perhaps the first time ever, a robot played a cello live on stage during a performance by a symphony orchestra. As [*Reuters* reports](), a pair of industrial robotic arms programmed by researcher and composer Fredrik Gran played a piece by Swedish composer Jacob Muhlrad alongside the Malmo Symphony Orchestra earlier this month. Footage [of the unusual event]() shows the arms smoothly gliding a bow across the instrument's four strings, somewhat like a human musician, while a 3D-printed appendage allows it to manipulate the fretboard, resulting in an eerie, albeit crude and expressionless performance. It's a particularly difficult technological feat, considering the complexity of playing a stringed instrument compared to simply hitting a note on a piano or striking a drum. "\[Gran\] actually worked with two industrial robot arms that could play the cello," Muhlrad told *Reuters*. "And I thought that was very interesting, because there's obviously a lot of self-playing pianos, but the string instrument is so intricate, so I was very curious about how it actually works." https://youtu.be/J9qL-SgFOdE ## String Theory Muhlrad has experimented with cutting-edge performance tech before. "For me as a composer, it's kind of liberating to go beyond the human anatomy when you think about what to write for a cello," he told *Reuters*. While he's already considering employing AI during future performances, he also said that it's "impossible" to ever fully "replace live musicians." And given the arguably lackluster and deadpan performance — after all, it's a pair of robotic arms, not a human performer who honed their craft over decades — we're glad he's still bullish on humans. **More on musical robots:** *[Man Arrested for Creating Fake Bands With AI, Then Making $10 Million by Listening to Their Songs With Bots]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()