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Z-Machines: the robot band that headlined Maker Faire Tokyo (video)
Once they've finished hunting us down, it looks like the machines will be able to put on a good show to celebrate. The all-robot band, Z-Machines, have been making erratic appearances across Japan since early Summer, and Maker Faire Tokyo seemed like the most appropriate place to show off some actuated ax-grinding. They were without the third member, the keyboard-playing, laser-shooting Cosmos, but that didn't detract from a spectacle that drew in university students, older professor-types and stroller-pushing families alike. The live performance lasted roughly ten minutes, prefaced by a quick intro and explanation from the team that built them, but two songs was more than enough to make the crowd cheer and whoop: the robots will be repeating the show six times each day of the Maker Faire, but it's not as if they're going to tire. The guitarist (Mach) wields two guitars, while we counted just over 20 drumsticks connected to Ashura, with plenty of pneumatic piping on both robots to ensure they connect with their respective instruments. One of the biggest challenges, we're told, was ensuring that program timing included the movement between hitting a beat and hitting the subsequent one. If Ashura had just hit the snare, for example, then the drumstick would be in a different starting place. Alongside pre-programmed music, both robots could be controlled independently and we got to briefly steer the guitarist robot with both a wired-up guitar and keyboard. After the break, alongside Z-Machine's warm-up set, we've added a full-length collaboration between the 'bot band and Squarepusher, a combination that makes a whole lot of sense.
Robot band covers Marilyn Manson, renders sullen teenagers obsolete (video)
Sure, we've seen robot bands before. But even when insecure and egotistical, they never quite capture the youthful disaffection we want from our mechanical pop stars. Until now. End of Life is a robot band consisting of a cello, and electric guitar, drums, and, for some reason, a flat-bed scanner -- maybe he's the cute one? The group recently covered Marilyn Manson's three-string anthem "The Beautiful People," and it sounds almost exactly like you'd expect: we'll call it "raw, visceral, and uncensored." We can't wait to see them sneer at Rock Band-playing robots too lazy to learn a real instrument. Catch them in the video after the break, and you can tell all your less-cool friends you knew them back before they sold out.
Video: Arduino-based 'insecure, egotistical' robot band
One part gadget, one part art project, and 100% awesome, the Cybraphon is a MacBook powered, Arduino-based mechanical band housed in an antique wardrobe. Including an organ, cymbals, a motor-driven Indian Shruti box (played with 13 robotic servos, no less), and a gramophone, it relies on infrared motion detectors to sense when it has an audience. A number of factors, including the amount of attention it gets on Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter, help the device determine its "mood," which in turn determines when the "band" plays, and what material it selects. According to one of the artist / inventors, the Cybraphon is a "tongue-in-cheek comment on people's obsession with online celebrity. We modeled it on an insecure, egotistical band." That's our favorite kind! And you know, the thing doesn't sound half bad. Check it out for yourself after the break.
