Audio Friday: McBlare The Robot Bagpiper
Writing by Evan Ackerman on Friday, 29 of May , 2009 at 3:12 am
I’m a bagpiper. Seriously, I am. And I’m pretty good, too (here’s me playing with my old band). But as with most things, if a human can do it, so can a robot, and as we’ve seen, musical instruments are no exception. A team from Carnegie Mellon constructed this bagpiping robot, called McBlare, back in 2006. McBlare uses an air compressor to simulate lungs, has electromagnetic fingers to play notes, and is completely computer controlled. Here’s an MP3 of McBlare playing a tune.
Now, as a professional bagpiper, I have to say that I’m surprised by how well it seems to work, and a little bit jealous of how easy it makes it sound (bagpipes are, if I may say so, a very physical instrument and quite difficult to play well). The technical execution is (as you’d expect) good, and the tone is (also as you’d expect) very steady, which is one of the trickiest things to do on a bagpipe, since you have to transition between blowing and squeezing the bag without changing the pressure. As for the expression, well, the expression sucks. It’s, um, robotic. But it’s not that robotic, and some bits are more robotic than others, leading me to believe that it could be vastly improved with a little bit of creative programming. I’m not sure what prevents them from just getting a professional to play a tune, sound mapping it, and using those data to program the robot to play better.
What was most impressive, though, is that the robot can be programmed to play music that a human would (probably) find physically impossible. I’ve heard some very good pipers play some nearly impossible tunes, but at some point, fingers get tired and slow and inconsistent. If you listen to this clip (*.mp3), you’ll hear a sample of this at about 4:08. Just hearing that makes my fingers cramp.
[ McBlare ]
Thanks Colin!
Comments (4)
Category: Musical
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Comment by Colin
Made Friday, 29 of May , 2009 at 8:31 pm
Colin from Cambodia says yeaahhh
Comment by Snelleeddy
Made Monday, 1 of June , 2009 at 11:09 am
I may not be a grade 2 player non the less I can play the pipes rather well, that robot should tune it’s drones and play on a decent reed…
But rather great to see a robot piper!
PS: nice medley
Comment by flesh
Made Monday, 29 of June , 2009 at 9:41 am
As for the expression, well, the expression sucks.
Comment by denis1907
Made Friday, 3 of July , 2009 at 7:43 am
I’m not sure what prevents them from just getting a professional to play a tune, sound mapping it