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Robot takes the stage as guest conductor for South Korea's national orchestra

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Good morning. I'm Michel Martin.

Musicians sometimes complain that their conductors can be a bit, well, mechanical. But a guest conductor for South Korea's National Orchestra recently actually was a robot - an actual robot. The 6-foot-tall android waved a baton to keep time. But the robot does have one big weakness. It can't actually listen to the music it's conducting. So the orchestra's main conductor gets to keep his job, at least for now.

It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.