Clarinet Wins Robotic Orchestra Competition

Sasha writes "The Australian designed robotic clarinet beat out Dutch and Finnish entries this year at the robotic orchestra competition. The researchers don't expect to replace human musicians, but are instead interested in what makes the difference between playing music well and playing music poorly. There is also a video available of the performance."

Has to be said

[dave_the_dodo]

I, for one, welcome our new clarinet playing overlords.

Look on the bright side...

[camperdave]

Look on the bright side. They could have made a robotic bagpipe player.

After-perfomance quote

[Dhar]

After the performance, the clarinet was overheard saying, "All your brass are belong to us."

-g.

Re:Look on the bright side...

[Anonymous Coward]

They wanted to study the differences between good music playing and bad music playing, not bad music playing and really bad music playing.

Re:Innovation without purpose...

[maxume]

Commenting without saying anything is a much bigger weakness in this community. Well followed.

Re:Look on the bright side...

[Gewalt]

Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a computer drunk enough to pick up a bagpipe and start playing it?

Re:Look on the bright side...

[Sun Chi]

Maybe that is the next project: teach a robot how to play bagpipes and see if it can learn why it shouldn't.

Re:Look on the bright side...

[Thiez]

Not hard at all. Even after a single beer my computer starts acting funny.

Re:Look on the bright side...

[camperdave]

Are you referring to McBlare?

Upon seeing the bag inflated prior to a demonstration, one of the professors at Carnegie Mellon was heard to exclaim: "You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!" before he ran screaming out of the room.

Re:Has to be said

[Anonymous Coward]

How can you find fault with a machine that plays Clarinet Hero and wins every time? Even on difficult pieces like the 1812 Overture? Emulating cannon explosions with a clarinet is VERY difficult, and several human performers who tried it ended up with a groin concussion and protruding eyeballs [Annals of Bad Medicine, Vol XXIV]. But this machine did it flawlessly. Alas, sadly it melted down after trying covers of Michael Jackson's Thriller. The hip thrusts and moonwalking were too much for the earnest robot.

Re:After-perfomance quote

[julesh]

Narrator: In A.D. 2101, song was beginning.
        Captain: What happen ?
        Mechanic: Somebody set up us the drumloop.
        Operator: We get signal.
        Captain: What !
        Operator: Main amp turn on.
        Captain: It's you !!
        CATS: How are you gentlemen !!
        CATS: All your bass are belong to us.
        CATS: You are on the way to first verse.
        Captain: What you say !!
        CATS: You have no chance to harmonize mark your time.
        CATS: Ha Ha Ha Ha ....
        Operator: Captain !!
        Captain: Turn on every 'Moog'!!
        Captain: You know what you playing.
        Captain: Play 'Moog'.
        Captain: For great chorus.