Meet Sophia the singing robot, as Hong Kong leads the way in musical machinery
You’ve seen them dance, lift heavy objects and do stunts. Now, robots are taking centre stage in music
Closing her eyes as the music swells, Sophia gives herself to her song, the lyrics urging the audience to “not be afraid”. She has performed before but this appearance at a gala concert with the Hong Kong Baptist University Symphony Orchestra marks her classical music debut.
In between performing three songs that she co-wrote, Sophia explains her creative process to the crowd. “I worked with my music coach, Jovanka [von Wilsdorf], and collaborated with many different musicians on my music. And together, we’d write lyrics. It was a really fun process.
“Human Grace is a song that still hits me differently. We wrote this when a close friend of ours was feeling very low. The song is like an embrace and the line, ‘I can see you shine’, nails it. Don’t let other people’s fear infect you. Let courage be contagious and keep building the strange and the beautiful.”
Sophia’s performance and interaction with the crowd are like those of any number of promising young divas – but this rising star is not human. Sophia is an advanced social humanoid robot developed by Hong Kong-based Hanson Robotics, and her first foray into classical music was part of an April 29 concert at the East Kowloon Cultural Centre (EKCC) celebrating the 70th anniversary of Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU).
It turns out that the South China Morning Post (SCMP) was partially responsible for this collaboration.
Johnny Poon Ming-lun, dean of creative arts, among other positions, at HKBU, and the conductor of the concert, first encountered Sophia in a video released by the SCMP last year.
“I saw that she sang and could conduct intelligent conversation. I was interested in how she would sound with a live orchestra,” says Poon.