Modernizing the Machine Lab with Mechatronic Immersive Design and Artificial Intelligence

Colton Arnold, Zhaohan Cheng, and Ajay Kapur

Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

Abstract

This paper presents the modernization of the Machine Lab, a creative studio that integrates digital control with the acoustic physicality of mechatronic musical instruments. Central to this update is the installation of a mechatronic instrument, an 8×8 array of Modulets mounted on the lab’s ceiling, forming an immersive, distributed acoustic environment that enables highresolution spatialized sound across 64 discrete locations. Key architectural updates include the re-integration of Open Sound Control (OSC), enabling performers and composers to wirelessly network for flexible ensemble configurations. In addition, a novel AI-driven calibration framework is introduced using ChucK’s ChAi library, employing a weighted ensemble of a multi-layer perceptron (MLP) and a k-nearest neighbor (KNN) model. This approach reduces the subjectivity of manual configuration of the mechatronic instruments while ensuring consistent dynamic response and timing accuracy across the Machine Lab. Together, these updates position our collection custom built instruments as a scalable platform for immersive performance, pedagogy, and experimental research in mechatronic music systems, supporting both structured composition and exploratory, data-drive practices.

Citation

Colton Arnold, Zhaohan Cheng, and Ajay Kapur. 2026. Modernizing the Machine Lab with Mechatronic Immersive Design and Artificial Intelligence. Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.20784111 [PDF]

BibTeX Entry

@inproceedings{nime2026_28,
 abstract = {This paper presents the modernization of the Machine Lab, a creative studio that integrates digital control with the acoustic physicality of mechatronic musical instruments. Central to this update is the installation of a mechatronic instrument, an 8×8 array of Modulets mounted on the lab’s ceiling, forming an immersive, distributed acoustic environment that enables highresolution spatialized sound across 64 discrete locations. Key architectural updates include the re-integration of Open Sound Control (OSC), enabling performers and composers to wirelessly network for flexible ensemble configurations. In addition, a novel AI-driven calibration framework is introduced using ChucK’s ChAi library, employing a weighted ensemble of a multi-layer perceptron (MLP) and a k-nearest neighbor (KNN) model. This approach reduces the subjectivity of manual configuration of the mechatronic instruments while ensuring consistent dynamic response and timing accuracy across the Machine Lab. Together, these updates position our collection custom built instruments as a scalable platform for immersive performance, pedagogy, and experimental research in mechatronic music systems, supporting both structured composition and exploratory, data-drive practices.},
 address = {London, United Kingdom},
 articleno = {28},
 author = {Colton Arnold and Zhaohan Cheng and Ajay Kapur},
 booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
 doi = {10.5281/zenodo.20784111},
 editor = {Benedict Gaster and João Tragtenberg and Anna Xambó and Tom Mitchell},
 issn = {2220-4806},
 month = {June},
 note = {},
 numpages = {5},
 pages = {243--247},
 title = {Modernizing the Machine Lab with Mechatronic Immersive Design and Artificial Intelligence},
 track = {Paper},
 url = {http://nime.org/proceedings/2026/nime2026_28.pdf},
 year = {2026}
}