Research Trends onMusical Performance Robots

Therelation between thehumanandthemusic hasalong history dating fromtheantiquity, during whichpoetry, dancing andmusic wereinseparable andconstitute animportant meanofcommunication ofeveryday life. Music was also considered, during thegolden eraofautomata, asamean forunderstanding thehumanitself byreplicating the movementofthehumanorgans whicharerequired for playing musical instruments. Forexample, themechanical flutist player developed by Vaucanson in1738, itrepresented awayofunderstanding thehumanbreathing mechanism. Vaucanson presented "The Flute Player" totheAcademy ofScience in1738. Forthis occasion hewrotealengthy report carefully describing how hisflutist canplayexactly like analive person. Thisfirst automaton wasalife-size figure capable ofplaying aflute andithadarepertoire oftwelve pieces whichincluded the "LeRossignol" byBlavet. Thetechnical details oftheoperation wouldbetoolong; therefore, asimplified outline of themechanism will beprovided. Nowadays, thanks totheadvances onrobot technology, researchers areabledesigning human-like robots that are able ofdisplaying morecomplicated motorskills aswell as displaying somedegree ofintelligence. Oneofthefirst attempts indeveloping amusical robot wasdonebyWaseda University. In1984, therobot musician WABOT-2was presented asarobot able ofplaying aconcert organ. Then, in 1985, theWASUBOT wasalso built atWasedaUniversity. This robot could read amusical score andplay arepertoire of 16tunes onakeyboard instrument. Prof. Katoargued that theartistic activity suchasplaying akeyboard instrument wouldrequire human-like intelligence anddexterity.