Robotic Prosthesis Turns Drummer into a Three-Armed Cyborg

edvia

Senior Member
I just stumbled across this article, which I thought was very interesting. In short, Georgia Tech created an artificial limb that can be attached to amputees, which contains motors that power two drumsticks—one controlled by the musicians’ arms and muscle sensors, while the other acts independently of the first and “improvises” to the music being played.

Read about it and watch the video here:

http://www.news.gatech.edu/2014/03/05/robotic-prosthesis-turns-drummer-three-armed-cyborg
 
Sounded fine alone on the snare. With the band, it sounded as if someone was throwing sticks randomly at the kit.
 
Very interesting. But....... can you get it to practice rudiments?
 
Sounded fine alone on the snare. With the band, it sounded as if someone was throwing sticks randomly at the kit.

Agreed. Scientists and engineers with no musical sense apparently made that second stick do things randomly and they consider that improvisation. Kinda silly IMO and I can't see how that drummer doesn't see it the same way (or maybe he does?)
 
Agreed. Scientists and engineers with no musical sense apparently made that second stick do things randomly and they consider that improvisation. Kinda silly IMO and I can't see how that drummer doesn't see it the same way (or maybe he does?)

Maybe he's just happy with an extra tool to learn and use that he didn't have before.
 
I'm guessing that lots of the hype ("three-arm cyborg") is coming from the press, not the researcher himself. The researcher is probably trying to do good and may in fact be highly experienced with music and drumming. To the extent that what you're seeing is not musical, that could be just a reflection of the current state of the art. It's a step on the way towards something in the future that might be truly great.
 
Re: This is absolutely insane, jawdropping

What a cheat (I bet he uses triggers too).
Seriously though, what an awesome development for "limb impaired" drummers.
And on a semi-serious note, could Rick Allen benefit from such a prosthesis?
From what I saw, you would still need most of your arm (to the elbow at least) to make this work. Could a full arm prosthesis be the next step?
 
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