This week in the list of new stuff that robots can do: pumping out the tunes. DJ Yoda was joined by a YuMi robot while he was spinning the discs at the Ford Fiesta launch party.
"I've collaborated before with a classical orchestra, a beatboxer, and a brass band but teaching a robot to DJ has been crazy," said the English turntablist. "There were times when I didn't know if it was going to work or not. The biggest challenge was trying to teach rhythm to robot coders. There were a lot of calculators."
Ford has put together a behind-the-scenes look at the event, which you can see embedded below - the YuMi robot actually throws some decent shapes behind the decks as well as scratching the beats out.
Everything the robot did was preset by a team of coders, so DJs won't be replaced by droids in the very near future. Even so, it's the latest in a long line of reminders that these machines are getting smarter all the time.
Ford has previously been using collaborative robots like the YuMi on its production lines. The bots are specifically designed to work alongside humans in a safe and controlled manner, so AI uprisings should be kept down to a minimum.
No word yet on any future collaborations between DJs Yoda and YuMi but considering the spectacle of most press launches these days we would be surprised if Ford's launch party was the last time we saw a robot behind the decks.
