After an extended posting hiatus, I am back for the new year with some old news (Though it’s brand new to me!). A team from UNSW has designed a fully-robotic clarinet. The instrument is fascinating to watch and displays an impressive technical ability, though its tone leaves something to be desired (even to Squidward’s ear).
The robotic clarinet, shortly after being “born” at UNSW.
Creating a robotic version of any instrument is not an easy task, and the clarinet is no exception. In fact, the clarinet is more difficult to mechanize than many instruments due to the complexity of the mouthpiece, air pressure, and open tone holes.
Regardless, the task was completed by the talented team of engineers, and the design won an award for robotic instrumental design at the 2008 Artemis Orchestra Competition. The device continues to be of interest and has made appearances at music technology conferences around the world.
Anyways, don’t take my word for it. Have a listen here:
I find things like this fascinating, and I look forward to this instrument’s first recital and concert tour. I wonder if such a thing is in the works. In fact, how cool would it be to have recordings by such an instrument? It may even be possible to do a Zenph Re-performance of some of the old masters’ clarinet recordings if the technology comes far enough, though I’m not sure where that leaves us as players. By the looks of it, though, it’s interesting, but I don’t think it will be replacing us any time soon.
Sean.
PS: Full details about the robotic clarinet, as well as some fascinating information about clarinet acoustics, can be found here: http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/jw/clarinetrobot.html
