The Toa Mata All Robot Band

[Source: Opificio Sonico]
[Source: Opificio Sonico]
Tired of listening to all of your favorite songs over and over again on Pandora? Or the loud and way-too-human bands that leave your ears ringing after every concert? One alternative is the Toa Mata Band. Not a garage band at all – more of a kitchen table band – the members of the Toa Mata Band are comprised entirely of Lego robots.

The band was created by Giuseppe Acito at his Opificio Sonico lab. In addition to being a music producer, Acito has a “passion for the Lego world.” And he combines his passions by building robots with his son and musical instruments – drum pads, percussion instruments, and synthesizers – that the robots play. The robots are actually motor-enabled Lego Bionicle heroes controlled by an iPad. The music sequencing app, Clavia NordBeat, sends a 4-track sequence that communicates to an Arduino Uno microcontroller board that converts the musical notes into electrical impulses. The result is pure – albeit miniaturized – robotic funk.

All they need is a holographic lead singer and to perform the very obvious “Electric Avenue.” When they do, I know where to find the perfect backup dancers.

[Source: Opificio Sonico via YouTube]

Peter Murray
Peter Murrayhttp://www.amazon.com/Peter-Murray/e/B004J3ONVQ/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1
Peter Murray was born in Boston in 1973. He earned a PhD in neuroscience at the University of Maryland, Baltimore studying gene expression in the neocortex. Following his dissertation work he spent three years as a post-doctoral fellow at the same university studying brain mechanisms of pain and motor control. He completed a collection of short stories in 2010 and has been writing for Singularity Hub since March 2011.
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