Skip to content

Better Drumming Through Calibration: Techniques for Pre-Performance Robotic Percussion Optimization

Jim Murphy, Ajay Kapur, and Dale Carnegie

Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

Abstract

A problem with many contemporary musical robotic percussion systems lies in the fact that solenoids fail to respond lin-early to linear increases in input velocity. This nonlinearity forces performers to individually tailor their compositions to specific robotic drummers. To address this problem, we introduce a method of pre-performance calibration using metaheuristic search techniques. A variety of such techniques are introduced and evaluated and the results of the optimized solenoid-based percussion systems are presented and compared with output from non-calibrated systems.

Citation

Jim Murphy, Ajay Kapur, and Dale Carnegie. 2012. Better Drumming Through Calibration: Techniques for Pre-Performance Robotic Percussion Optimization. Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.1180545 [PDF]

BibTeX Entry


@inproceedings{nime2012_Murphy,
author = {Jim Murphy and Ajay Kapur and Dale Carnegie},
title = {Better Drumming Through Calibration: Techniques for Pre-Performance Robotic Percussion Optimization},
pages = {149--152},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
year = {2012},
publisher = {University of Michigan},
address = {Ann Arbor, Michigan},
issn = {2220-4806},
doi = {10.5281/zenodo.1180545},
url = {https://nime.org/proceedings/2012/nime2012_100.pdf},
keywords = {musical robotics, human-robot interaction},
abstract = {A problem with many contemporary musical robotic percussion systems lies in the fact that solenoids fail to respond lin-early to linear increases in input velocity. This nonlinearity forces performers to individually tailor their compositions to specific robotic drummers. To address this problem, we introduce a method of pre-performance calibration using metaheuristic search techniques. A variety of such techniques are introduced and evaluated and the results of the optimized solenoid-based percussion systems are presented and compared with output from non-calibrated systems.}
}