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Episode 1: Myon - A Robot Hits the Stage

April 14, 2014

The humanoid robot Myon will be playing a lead role in "My Square Lady" in Berlin's Komische Oper as an experiment for Manfred Hild, a neuro-robotics specialist at the Humboldt University who built the robot. Myon has to learn to respond to human emotion, express it and evoke it in other human beings.

https://p.dw.com/p/1BhLK

If all goes well, the 1.25-meter-tall Myon will be appearing on the Komische Oper's stage later in the 2014/15 season. Until then, the robot has much to learn. For now, much like a toddler, Myon has lots to try out and experiences to collect and process. It's the biggest scientific challenge Manfred Hild and his team have ever faced. They don't want Myon just to be a machine that does what it's already been programmed to do. They want him to act like an individual with a will of his own, at least on a rudimentary level - in other words, to make a decision appropriate to the moment. It promises to be an exciting time for all. Eventually, it'll be up to the robot to decide how he's going to play the role on stage. Tomorrow Today will be following Myon's first steps in a series of reports.