Duet with a Robotic Drummer

Gil Weinberg is having trouble with his drummer: musical partner, and plays in ways no human would. he’s trying to get both of Haile’s arms to work at “I’ve played with people for years,” says Wein-the same time. That would be an unusual problem, berg. “But especially when you’re in a particular except for the fact that Haile is a robot. genre, you know what to expect. Here, we are in

Haile’s microprocessor-controlled, motorized uncharted territory.” arms are able to play ordinary acoustic drums, with While Haile’s human-robot communication skills expressive control over timbre and dynamics. But continue to evolve, it’s also getting a chance to while the movements of its anthropomorphic, wood- facilitate human-human communications. Next, en body are impressive, Haile’s listening ability is as Haile travels to Jerusalem to play on a program important as its playing. Using custom computer featuring collaborations between Jewish and Arabic software developed in the Max/MSP multimedia percussionists. The composition is called Jam’aa, environment, Haile can analyze the performance of or “gathering” in Arabic. Drawing on the communal a human drummer and respond in real-time. tradition of Middle Eastern music, Haile will interact

Photgraph by Travis Thatcher

“We’ve tried to create a new musical experience — with professional darbukah and djumbe players, to surprise you,” says Weinberg. Haile’s responses transforming what they play. At least, once the range from simple imitation to variation and even remaining technical bugs get solved. intelligent accompaniment. The results vary: some- “Talk to me Monday,” says Weinberg; by then, he times, the algorithms simply don’t work, or don’t hopes Haile will be able to play with both arms. work in a way that makes sense to human ears. But —Peter Kirn Weinberg, who was a jazz pianist for years before he became interested in computers, is most excited by the moments at which Haile feels like an equal Robotic Drummer: makezine.com/go/robotdrum