Bizarre female robo ‘croons by copying human singer’
By ANIFriday, October 15, 2010
LONDON - They can drive cars and probably even do household chores like humans, but a bizarre female robot can actually sing, by copying a human singer.
The life-sized robot, known as HRP-4, is able to ’sing’ using a synthesized voice technology that sounds and breathes like a human.
“This robot primarily utilises two technologies. One is for its singing voice,” the Daily Mail quoted Masataka Goto of Japan’s Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology.
“Last year, we used Yamaha’s Vocaloid software to synthesize notes directly. But this year, we’ve used our own technology, called VocalListener. This is a new technology, which synthesizes a singing voice on the computer side, as if imitating a person’s singing voice,” Goto said.
“Also, for the robot’s facial expressions, we’ve developed another new technology, called Vocawatcher. This analyses a video of a person singing, to create expressions naturally,” Goto added.
Researchers used a real singer as a model, recording her every move as she sang a typical Japanese pop song.
The movements were mapped onto HRP-4 who was then able to mimic her real-life counterpart’s every movement.
The team even helped the robot breathe realistically, by modelling real, human breathing sounds. (ANI)
