Robot Lets Musicians Become Three-Armed Drummers

Georgia Institute of Technology researchers have built a wearable robotic limb that allows drummers to play with three arms. The two-foot long 'smart arm' can be attached to a musician's shoulder. It responds to human gestures and the music it hears. When the drummer moves to play the high hat cymbal, for example, the robotic arm maneuvers to play the ride cymbal. When the drummer switches to the snare, the mechanical arm shifts to the tom. When the robot approaches an instrument, it uses built-in accelerometers to sense the distance and proximity. On-board motors make sure the stick is always parallel to the playing surface, allowing it to rise, lower or twist to ensure solid contact with the drum or cymbal. The next step is linking the arm's movements to brain activity. The team is already experimenting with an electroencephalogram (EEG) headband that detects a drummer's brain patterns. The researchers see doctors using a third arm to bring them tools, supplies, or even participate in surgeries.

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00:00:01 [ PERCUSSION ] We believe that if you augment humans with technology, humans should be able to do, or would be able to do much more. [ PERCUSSION ] We thought that music would be a great medium to try that. Music is something that is very timely. You really need to do things on the right millisecond. It's also very spatial. You need to go to the right places. So, what better medium, then, to try the concept of a third arm that would augment you

00:00:40 and allow you to do things that you couldn't before, than music. And that's where the shared control come into play. And the whole idea of cyborgs, augmented humans. [ PERCUSSION ] We believe that if you have something that is part of your body, it's a completely different feeling because it learns how your body moves. And it can augment it. So, if you want to move, like you saw, toward a particular drum, the arm knows that because it recognizes your gestures and you feel that your own body is responding to you, in a way.

00:01:10 The idea is that machines are not separate from humans, but are becoming part of humans. [ PERCUSSION ]