Development of a recorder-playing robot using unsteady flow rate control technique

The purpose of this study is to develop a robot that plays an alto recorder and sounds like a human playing an alto recorder. In recent years, the development of robots that entertain people by playing a variety of musical instruments has been observed. Many of these robots have specific features, for example, artificial lips for playing wind instruments. However, particularly when performing special musical effects, such as vibrato, tremolo, and tonguing, robots playing wind instruments often produce artificial sounds that differ considerably from those produced by their human counterparts. To build an alto-recorder-playing robot that produces natural sounds matching those produced by a human player, this study employs unsteady flow rate measurements and control techniques. A spool type servo valve and a quick response laminar flow sensor (QFS), whose dynamic characteristics are calibrated by an unsteady flow rate generator, are applied to control the blown air for the robot.