This autonomous robot is starring in a German opera

Myon comes with no strings attached. No one controls his (for it is apparently a he) actions. Although Myon is a robot, he isn't technically pre-programmed. When he gets onstage in the avant-garde production "My Square Lady" at the Komische Oper in Berlin, he instead acts on what he "learned" in rehearsals — just like any other human actor.

"We let it be itself," Manfre Hild, who designed, built, and programmed Myon, told The Washington Post. "We just followed our research track, which was figuring out how to control the body and how to give the robot episodic memory, and we came together and figured out what could be used in the piece."

In early rehearsals, Myon would just sit on a chair and stare at the actors because he hadn't learned yet how to act. But now, two years along, "he's acquired knowledge about human behaviors and is able to do stuff by himself," performer Bernhard Hansky told Vice's Motherboard. Certain prompts will remind Myon of what he's supposed to do during the show, although sometimes things can get chaotic, such as when Myon conducts faster or slower than the musicians would like.

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“It's a big challenge for everyone on the show to react to him," Hansky said. "We were all freaking out a bit because we didn't know what was coming next.”

But "it's not a freak show when he comes out and lifts things," Hild said. "We are playing with senses, memories, and learning."