The smartphone-enabled, one-foot-tall Shimi is billed as an interactive “musical buddy.” |
Wedding DJs everywhere should be worried about job security now that a new robot is on the scene.
Shimi,
a musical companion developed by Georgia Institute of Technology’s Center for Music
Technology, recommends songs, dances to the beat, and keeps the music
pumping based on listener feedback. The smartphone-enabled,
one-foot-tall robot is billed as an interactive “musical buddy.”
“Shimi
is designed to change the way that people enjoy and think about their
music,” said Professor Gil Weinberg, director of Georgia Tech’s Center
for Music Technology and the robot’s creator. He will unveil the robot
at Wednesday’s (June 27, 2012) Google I/O conference in San Francisco. A band of three
Shimi robots will strut its stuff for guests, dancing in sync to music
created in the laboratory and composed according to its movements.
Shimi
is essentially a docking station with a “brain” powered by an Android
phone. Once docked, the robot gains the sensing and musical generation
capabilities of the user’s mobile device. In other words, if there’s an “app for that,” Shimi is ready.
For
instance, by using the phone’s camera and face-detecting software, the
bot can follow a listener around the room and position its “ears,” or
speakers, for optimal sound. Another recognition feature is based on
rhythm and tempo. If the user taps or claps a beat, Shimi analyzes it,
scans the phone’s musical library and immediately plays the song that
best matches the suggestion. Once the music starts, Shimi dances to the
rhythm.
“Many
people think that robots are limited by their programming
instructions,” said Music Technology PhD candidate Mason Bretan. “Shimi shows us that robots can be creative and interactive.”
Future
apps in the works will allow the user to shake their head in
disagreement or wave a hand in the air to alert Shimi to skip to the
next song or increase/decrease the volume. The robot will also have the
capability to recommend new music based on the user’s song choices and
provide feedback on the music play list.
Weinberg
hopes other developers will be inspired to create more apps to expand
Shimi’s creative and interactive capabilities, allowing the machine to
leave the lab and head into the real world.
“I
believe that our center is ahead of a revolution that will see more
robots in homes, bypassing some of the fears some people have about
machines doing everyday functions in their lives,” Weinberg said.
Weinberg
is in the process of commercializing Shimi through an exclusive
licensing agreement with Georgia Tech. A new startup company, Tovbot,
has been formed and Weinberg hopes to make the robot available to
consumers by the 2013 holiday season. Shimi was developed in
collaboration with the Media Innovation Lab at IDC Herzliya and led by
Professor Guy Hoffmann. Entrepreneur Ian Campbell and robot designer
Roberto Aimi were also part of the Shimi team.
This
is the third robotic musician created by the Center for Music
Technology. Haile is a percussionist that can listen to live players,
analyze their music in real time, and improvise with music of its own.
Shimon is an interactive marimba player.
“If
robots are going to arrive in homes, we think that they will be these
kind of machines – small, entertaining, and fun,” Weinberg said. “They
will enhance your life and pave the way for more sophisticated service
robots in our lives.”
Source: Georgia Institute of Technology
