From Renaissance-era automata to the latest mechanical metal bands cooked up in robotics labs, humans have been fascinated by robots playing music. But are they any good? Listen to these all-robot musicians and bands and decide for yourself.
Motörhead’s Ace of Spades, performed by Compressorhead
The debut show of Z-Machines, a band created by a team of University of Tokyo roboticists in 2013.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=GK9n97fN1Go
Z-Machines and DJ Tasaka: Post People
Beatles: Come Together, played by four HUBO robots
Z-Machines, in collaboration with Squarepusher
Toyota’s Robot Quartet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NczsRWqm9pc
The Trons, a New Zealand garage robot band, made from old junk and discarded electronics, controlled by a computer from the early ’90s
Red Hot Chili Peppers: Californication, played by TeamDARE
A Paint ball orchestra, built by Intel Embedded Computing engineers
Johann Sebastian Bach: Toccata and Fugue in D minor, played by eight floppy drives
AC/DC: TNT, performed by Compressorhead
The B-52’s: Rock Lobster, performed by The Bit-52’s
Maroon 5: Moves Like Jagger, played by a robot band
Toyota’s violin- and trumpet-playing robots
The Trons: Time’s Up
Joueuse de Tympanon (or the Dulcimer Player), an early automaton constructed in 1784 by Peter Kintzing and David Roentgen, the cabinetmaker of Louis XVI, for Queen Marie Antoinette at Versailles.
Bonus: Z-Machines – How it’s made
