by David Geer
Contact the author at geercom@windstream.net
Baton-Wielding Bots
Command and Control
Orchestrated Wonders!
The College of New Jersey in Ewing received an award of $359,477 in
March ‘09 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support the
Conducting Robots class for three years. The class brings together students
from four disciplines — Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering,
Interactive Multimedia, and Music — to design, build, and program robots
capable of conducting orchestras. The class culminates in a performance
where the robot conducts the TCNJ orchestra on brief musical pieces.
Under the NSF’s CreativeIT Program, the college receives funding to explore
synergistic cross-disciplinary research combining computer science and
creativity. The course teams students from the varying disciplines to pool
their resources and come up with robotic systems that conduct the
orchestra. The systems include multimedia displays. “In essence, the
students will create a robotic maestro that mimics the arm movements and
facial expressions of a human conductor at work,” according to a TCNJ
media release. The robotic system is a mode for teaching the students not
only about their own areas of expertise but how to cooperate technically
with other disciplines in order to awaken or enhance their creativity.
10 SERVO 10.2010
