The Hubos Robotic Band Performing Come Together By The Beatles

Engineering students at Drexel University showcase software they’ve developed that enables a group of HUBO robots to perform music by following a musical score, without human control or assistance.

This innovative robotic music project is an entertaining example of the ongoing research conducted at the MET-Lab, the Music and Entertainment Technology Lab at Drexel University. MET-Lab research focuses on digital media technologies that will shape the future of entertainment primarily in the area of sound and music.

Most definitely an entertaining and intriguing example that demonstrates the capabilities of current robotic technology and the ability for robots to approach the human activity of creative musical expression.

However, if you play music or enjoy music performed by humans, I wouldn’t worry about the robots taking over just yet. Trust me, you can definitely tell the difference between the robots and the humans when it comes to performing music.

Drexel along with seven other universities in the US are part of a humanoid research project in collaboration with KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology), the designer of the HUBO robot. The name “HUBO” is a combination the the terms humanoid and robot.

The robotic musical demo was performed during Drexel Univerity’s  ”Engineers Week” that took place last month.

It’s certainly an interesting demonstration of robotic technology. But the Hubos obviously have their work cut out for them. Perhaps a few more years of dedicated practice and rehearsal, then lets see how they sound?

In the meantime, I think the future prospects for creative musical expression remain safely in the hands of the humans. Wouldn’t you agree?