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Could the next great classical musician be a robot?
Yes, if Waseda University’s robotic flautist can evolve.
The robot, which has an anthropomorphic or human-like quality, can play the musical score ‘The Flight of the Bumblebee’ almost flawlessly.
The latest version of the robot was presented at the BioRob 2008 conference in Arizona two weeks ago.
The robot’s eyes have two cameras that allow it to interact with
others in a performance and even the eyebrows on its face can move
freely as it plays.
It also has a lung and mouth that boasts impressive
mechanical design and allows the robot to control the flow of air into
the flute. The process is aided with its artificial lips that were designed to have elasticity similar to human lips allowing for better manipulation of the air.
Developing the robot has been a long process. Research on it started in 1990 but the scientists created the first version in 2003 with the goal that it would ultimately reach a level of musical ability rivaling that of humans.
That includes the robot being able to perform a music recital that has more natural notes and smoother transitions between the notes. This year, says the project’s website, the lips and the tongue mechanisms of the robot were re-designed to more accurately mimic human organs.
The robot is not just a gimmick but the idea is to eventually make it sophisticated enough to enable better human-computer interaction. The robot could potentially be used to teach music hope the researchers.
Check out this video of it playing the Flight of the Bumblebee. It is impressive though admittedly lacking in it that little emotional something that makes great music.
Photo: The Waseda Flutist
