TeoTronico, the robot musician, at the Estense Exhibition

The truly original concert given at the Estense Exhibition during Varese Design Week 2019, was one of the last events of the fair.

The protagonist and only musician at the piano, was TeoTronico, a “musical robot” created in 2007, in Italy, which is now well-known throughout the world, particularly in the Far East, where it is a little star.

It was created, with the help of an Arduino, some knowledge of C programming, a few .midi files (the oldest and most common music files), and recycled materials for the body (such as bleach bottles to create the face), by Matteo Suzzi, a young man from Imola, who, for five years, has been “its prisoner”, as he describes himself.

TeoTronico, with its creator, and with Nicoletta Romano, Luca Facchini, of Credit Suisse Varese, and Silvana Barbato.

TeoTronico is invited around the world to take part in unusual challenges with the biggest, international pianists (from Roberto Prosseda to Lang Lang), and performs in concerts for which thousands of young people line up to hear.

“We’re not talking about artificial intelligence here, we’re light years from those studies,” Suzzi explained. “It’s a machine that’s closer to the player piano that they used to have in saloons, that’s been adapted to today.” However, the effect is really spectacular, if we also consider TeoTronico’s “expressions”. “There’s one thing he really does do, although nobody ever believes it,” Suzzi pointed out. “TeoTronico really plays the piano. Following the indications in a midi file, but he really does it, with the help of his 53 fingers.”