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Robot band to debut at World Humanoid Robot Games

China

China

China

Robot band to debut at World Humanoid Robot Games

2025-08-11 21:23 Last Updated At:22:07

A robot band presented by its developer based in Hefei City of east China's Anhui Province is set to make debut for global audiences at the opening ceremony of the World Humanoid Robot Games on Thursday, featuring a splendid fusion of technology and art.

Designed by a tech company from Hefei, the robot band consists of five robot "musicians" playing a keyboard, a lead guitar, drum and bass, and a rhythm guitar. Requiring no scores, the robot band members can perform solos and ensembles with smooth, flowing precision, thanks to their shared computing "brain" that analyzes scores and notes in real time.

"This is a page of musical score in staff notation. After our robot processes it electronically, it proceeds to an intelligent analysis of motions. Take the folk song Fengyang Flower Drum as an example. At 2.67 seconds, (our keyboardist) presses the 53rd and 60th keys with the second and sixth fingers of its left hand, and steps on the sustain pedal. All these motions are concluded to be a single action, guided by one instruction. For a three-minute song, the robot will generate about 1,000 instructions," said Wu Chao, a research and development engineer from Hefei Panshi Technology, who created the robot band.

The robot band will play a vital part at the opening ceremony of the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, the first-ever international sports festival for humanoids. To prepare for the event, engineers also upgraded the hardware for band members, replacing pneumatic joints with motor-driven ones to handle faster rhythms.

For the future, researchers hope to make the robots more human-like, suitable for music teaching.

"Our two guitarists and bassist use full-fret pneumatic cylinders to press chords, while our more anthropomorphic keyboardists and drummer have extra fingers and arms. Next, we aim to develop more human-like arms for faster, more interactive playing, and equip each robot with AI dialogue so they can converse directly with people," Wu said.

Robot band to debut at World Humanoid Robot Games

Robot band to debut at World Humanoid Robot Games

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney arrived in Beijing on Wednesday for an official visit to China through Saturday.

This visit marks the first trip to China by a Canadian Prime Minister in eight years.

When briefing on the visit of Carney, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said President Xi Jinping will meet with the Canadian prime minister to provide new strategic guidance for further improving and developing China-Canada relations.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Chairman of China's National People's Congress Standing Committee Zhao Leji will hold separate talks and meetings with the Canadian prime minister to conduct comprehensive and in-depth exchanges on bilateral relations as well as issues of mutual interest.

The spokesperson said China looks forward to taking this visit as an opportunity to enhance dialogue and communication, increase political mutual trust, expand practical cooperation, properly manage differences, address each other's concerns and consolidate the momentum of improvement in China-Canada relations to bring greater benefit for the two peoples.

Canadian PM arrives in Beijing for official visit

Canadian PM arrives in Beijing for official visit

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