Research Trends on Musical Performance Robots

The advances on robot technology, researchers are able designing human-like robots that are able of displaying more complicated motor skills as well as displaying some degree of intelligence. This robot could read a musical score and play a repertoire of 16 tunes on a keyboard instrument. In this talk, such research trends will be described based on the development of the Waseda Flutist Robot. This paper deals with 1) human-robot interaction: musical performance robots may aim in understanding how humans can communicate at the emotional level of perception. 2) human motor control: musical performance robots can be designed to nearly reproduce the anatomy/physiology of the human organs require for playing musical instruments. 3) art/entertainment: musical performance robots may contribute in finding new ways of musical expression that may have been hidden behind the rubric of "musical intuition". 4) education: musical performance robots may be used as education tools in order to transfer skills to unskilled persons.