Kraftwerk once aspired to building robots to perform music without being prompted by human interaction. The human race hasn't gotten there yet, but a performer/engineer/artist in Russia is working on it. His current project: A "robot" that plays music based on the tattoos on his body.
Dmitry Mozorov's device isn't exactly a robot, at least by the definition of the International Federation of Robotics. It is, however, a pretty excellent device. It consists of a metal arm that gets strapped to a human arm. Among the wires and chips on the device are two important devices: A) two "black lines sensors" that are controlled by the users. These are the things that read the tattoos in order to figure out the notes and B) a Wii remote that tracks the movement of the arm, allowing the user to alter the pitch of the note with their limb.
The result is a mixture of Jean Michel Jarre and Nine Inch Nails, ranging from an ambient synth to a dark bass drone. There isn't an option to replicate particular instruments…yet.
The problem is that Mozorov's tattoo seems specially designed to create all of the sounds he needs. It's a thick, black, barcode-type pattern on his wrist. He can control the sensor to go back an forth so the device finds the code for the sound he's aiming for. You can't expect to take the device and have it scan the random Chinese characters on your arm and play anything truly musical. "The tattoo is specifically designed to contain the maximum number of variable time slots between triggers," Mozorov explained.
We don't get the idea Mozorov was trying to change the future of music here, so we feel comfortable saluting his performance piece as a really b-----n' science project.
You can check out him performing with his new instrument below:
::vtol:: "reading my body" from ::vtol:: on Vimeo.
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