Georgia Tech engineers have developed a robotic edge that acts as a third hand to significantly increase a drummer's creative ability.
In the video at the end of this article you can see the robotic hand that can play at the same time but also by making drum combinations according to the drummer that's right.
"We believe that if we increase human skills with technology then we will be able to do much more," says director of the Music Technology Center Gil Weinberg. "We think music is a big field to experiment with"
The robotic "smart arm' is placed on the musician's shoulder and is able to respond both to his movements and to the music he plays. A related article from Georgia Tech explains that the robot has learned how the human body moves, and with its motion-based sensors it understands what the drummer plans to do next. If the robot senses the drummer moving towards the cymbal, it moves there. If the drummer moves towards the drum, the robot focuses on it.
Η team αυτή τη στιγμή πειραματίζεται με την τεχνολογία ηλεκτροεγκεφαλογραφημάτων (EEG), έτσι ώστε μελλοντικά τα ρομπότ να μπορούν δυνητικά να διαβάσουν τα κύματα του εγκεφάλου ενός τυμπανιστή να αισθανθούν τι σκέφτεται για την change tempo or which drum to beat.
The project, funded by the National Science Foundation, is an impressive demonstration of coordination. The robot has to interpret human action and translate it into a specific position on the drums, using accelerometers to measure the distance to various objects. If a human drummer's tempo slows down or accelerates, so does the robot.
The robot is of course quite far from the skill level of a John Bonham (drummer of the British rock band Led Zeppelin), but it has so far proved to be good enough for a first step in the laboratory.
