Musical Robot Companion Enhances Listener Experience
Shimi, a musical companion developed by Georgia Tech"s Center for Music Technology, recommends songs, dances to the beat and keeps the music pumping based on listener feedback. The smartphone-enabled (智能手机支持的), one-foot-tall robot is billed as an interactive "musical friend".
"Shimi is designed to change the way that people enjoy and think about their music," said Professor Gil Weinberg, the robot"s creator. He will unveil the robot at the June 27th Google I/O conference in San Francisco. A band of three Shimi robots will perform for guests, dancing in sync with music created in the lab and composed according to its movements.
Shimi is essentially a docking station with a "brain" powered by an Android phone. Once docked the robot gains the sensing and musical generation capabilities of the user"s mobile device. In other words, if there"s an "app" for that, Shimi is ready. For instance, by using the phone"s camera and face-detecting software, Shimi can follow a listener around the room and position its "ears", or speakers, for optimal sound. Another recognition feature is based on rhythm and tempo. If the user taps a beat, Shimi yzes it, scans the phone"s musical library and immediately plays the song that best matches the suggestions. Once the music starts, Shimi dances to the rhythm.
"Many people think that robots are limited by their programming instructions," said Music Technology Ph. D. candidate Mason Bretan, "Shimi shows us that robots can be creative and interactive." Future apps in the works will allow the user to shake their head in disagreement or wave a hand in the air to alert Shimi to skip to the next song or increase/decrease the volume. The robot will also have the capability to recommend new music based on the user"s song choices and provide feedback on the music play list.
Weinberg hopes other developers will be inspired to create more apps to expand Shimi"s creative and interactive capabilities. "I believe that our center is ahead of a revolution that will see more robots in homes." Weinberg said.
Weinberg is in the process of commercializing Shimi through an exclusive licensing agreement with Georgia Tech. Weinberg hopes to make the robot available to consumers by the 2013 holiday season. "If robots are going to arrive in homes, we think that they will be this kind of machines—small, entertaining and fun," Weinberg said. "They will enhance your life and pave the way for more intelt service robots in our lives." Musical Robot Companion Enhances Listener ExperienceWhat does Shimi do if the user taps a beat