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Robotic Arms Playing Musical Instruments and DJ-Scratching Records
Would you pay to see a live concert of your favorite musician remotely controlling them?
By Rain Noe - Mar 05
Years ago I had this crazy idea: A sculptor is given a block of stone to work on in his studio. Somewhere on another continent, an identical block of stone is placed in some (probably rich) person's house. The sculptor starts shaping the stone on his/her own schedule, a few minutes here, a few hours there. The sculptor's motions are tracked and duplicated by robotic arms working on the second stone. So periodically, the rich patron gets to see the sculptor's work unfold at random times, and at the end is left with an identical sculpture.
I was reminded of it by watching musician Nigel Stanford's "Automatica" music video, which incorporates Kuka Robotics arms:
Despite the fact that the video ends exactly the way a robophobe like me thought it would, my question to you is: Let's say the robot arms could be programmed to precisely duplicate a track recorded by your favorite musician. Not just playing the same notes, but in the same style, the exact same expression of the notes. So here are my questions:
1. Would you pay to see a live concert of your favorite musician, but with the lights out, so that no one could actually see said musician?
2. Would you pay to see a live concert of the robot arms playing, while the actual musician was in a studio miles away having his/her movements duplicated?
3. Assuming the robot arms could be programmed to duplicate performances based on audio recordings, would you pay to see a live concert of the robots playing, say, Prince? Or any deceased artist?
Most of us consume most of our music in the absence of the actual artist. The live experience is sonically very different, and then there is the thrill of being in the same space as the actual artist creating the music in real time. I'm wondering how far people will be willing to deviate from the real experience in the future.
Rain Noe
Rain Noe is a writer and industrial designer based in New York City.
2 Comments
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I would buy a robot that could Jam with me so I think the question is would you like to sit in your living room while a robot played Hendrix on your favourite guitar?
Imagine realising that you need a better guitar and not more practice!!Report as spam -
German band Kraftwerk went through these questions in the seventies.
They had robots impersonating the four band members m, and the real musicians wore makeup so they looked like the robots, and played synchronous concerts in several cities.Spectators would not know if the were st the « real » concert or not. The goal was to democratize live shows.!Report as spam
Continued Reading
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By Rain Noe - Feb 26
Update: Boston Dynamics' Door-Opening Robot Now Taught to Fight Through Adversity
So that SpotMini robot we showed you that can open doors? Boston Dynamics is now at the testing phase where they send a guy to harass it with a hockey stick and a strap, apparently hoping to rattle the thing into quitting: For chrissakes, why can't they teach these things
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By Rain Noe - Feb 22
This Video of an Automated Factory Producing Lasagna at an Industrial Scale is Mesmerizing
…and also makes me kind of sad
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One of these is like R2-D2, but instead of projecting Princess Leia, gives you the time and temperatures
I'm curious about the design of the Olympic Village's facilities in Pyeongchang. Still working on it but just came across this footage of the robots wandering around there and had to share: I love that it looks like a rice cooker; I expect the top to pop open and
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By Rain Noe - Feb 13
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