The flawless flautist: The musical robot that plays Flight Of The Bumblebee perfectly Classical musicians could have good reason to be worried as scientists have developed a musical robot that makes no mistakes.
Waseda University�s robotic flautist can play the challenging musical score of the �Flight of the Bumblebee� almost flawlessly.
And the robot has been designed with a human-like quality that allows it to engage with the audience, making in a contender for concert performances.
The Waseda Flutist No. 4 Refined IV was unveiled at the BioRob 2008 conference in Arizona two weeks ago.
Thanks to a series of technical advances, the latest version makes smoother transitions between notes than the original model built in 2003.
The robot�s mouth and lungs have been carefully designed to mimic the expert air control of a professional flautist.
A YouTube video is here:
And after watching it, I do not fear for the careers of live musicians. This performance was wooden. A lot of that depends on the programming but a good performer can 'read' the audience and other musicians and interact with them -- it is subtle but very noticeable.
This one was too perfect.
The BioRob 2008 conference looks fascinating.
Posted by DaveH at November 6, 2008 8:10 PM