Last night, before a delighted audience of classical-music fans who have apparently not taken the lessons of the Terminator films to heart, ASIMO, a humanoid robot created by Honda, conducted the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in a performance of "The Impossible Dream" from Man of La Mancha. "The movements are still a little stiff, but very humanlike, much more fluid than I thought," said bassist Larry Hutchinson, blatantly trying to win the favor of the machines in advance of their inevitable enslavement (and probable annihilation) of all humanity. Later in the program, Yo Yo Ma — onstage to receive an award for his work in music education — met the robot, reportedly bending down to its height and shaking its hand. Afterwards, he refused to take media questions about ASIMO, probably because he was on his way to stockpile canned food and build an underground robot-apocalypse shelter (something you'll definitely want to look into).

Video: ASIMO burns as Yo-Yo Ma fiddles [Engadget]
Honda robot conducts Detroit Symphony to warm response [AP via Abilene Reporter-News]