I have had this song stuck in my head for days now. A fun little ditty about a man trying to clean up his life with a robot vacuum cleaner. Starts a little slow, then takes off. The dancing is fun, and I like how he really belts out those lyrics. Enjoy!
“I got a robot vacuum! Cleaning up my life!“
This morning on the MPR morning show they played this fun song by Hypnotic Clambake called 500 Robots.
“I’ve got 500 robots in my house, they do the things that I can do without….”
It is a fun catchy tune that is stuck in my head and will my theme song for the day. It is from their Mayonnaise album.
I managed to find this live version on Internet Archive - Enjoy!
Looks like those clever engineers over at Toyota took the next logical step and put together a talented quartet of their musician robots. The robots are Harry on trumpet, Dave on trumpet, Chuck on tuba , and Ritchie on drums. (Sadly it looks like one of the trumpet players is still in a wheel chair from that unfortunate accident after their last gig. Had a little too much to drink and tried jump a speeding Prius). Songs played include: “The Theme of Lupin III”, “Moonlight Serenade”, “Stompin ‘at the Savoy”, and “A train to go”.
I would like to find more technical details on how these guys work, like what kind of “lips” do they have, and are they listening to each other play to synchronize? I could definitely see this kind of thing catching on for entertainment on cruise ships or in theme parks. No more trouble with the band eating all the food or getting carried away at the open bar. Of course, then I wonder how long until the musicians unions start complaining?
TechEBlog » Feature: Toyota’s Robot Quartet Perform in Concert
Once they get that robot orchestra made, it looks like they will have someone to conduct. Asimo, that cute little guy from Honda, will be guest conducting the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in a performance of “Impossible Dream.” Along with renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma, Asimo will open a special concert performance for young people in Detroit on May 13.
May 14 Update
Apparantly the performance went well. Here is a video
I have just had the displeasure of attending an (otherwise pleasant) orchestra performance which contained the 28 minutes of cacophony known as “Apotheosis of this Earth” by Karel Husa. This composition is meant to express the composers displeasure with the terrible way in which man was / is treating the planet earth. It included a number of unusual devices such as instruments playing quarter stepped notes to be deliberately out of tune with others instruments, and sections of the score which direct to play some unspecified notes for a certain amount of time. These devices seemed to be most often realized at high pitches and high volumes which frequently became physically painful to listen to. It did not help matters that it was being performed in a relatively small “recital hall” space and not a large concert hall which may have been better able to handle the intense sound levels. While I do appreciate the technical skill involved in composing 28 minutes of music while completely avoiding anything resembling conventional musical melodies and maintaining a continuously difficult listening experience for the audience for the entire time, as a member of the audience I found it to be a (not surprisingly) somewhat unpleasant experience. Before the music began I had high hopes for something interesting as they brought out 2 marimbas, 2 glockenspiel, 2 xylophones, 2 gongs, tom toms and a set of concert bells, but alas that was before I knew they would be used for evil instead of for good. I could see how this piece would make a very interesting soundtrack for a movie of some kind, maybe an avant-garde art film, or even creatively used for a space science fiction, but it was not well suited as a concert piece. One kind of cool thing I enjoyed was when sections of the orchestra would speak the words “this beautiful earth” in quiet breathy voices during lulls in the noise, but that might have also been due to the momentary pause in the loud cacophonous discord. The conductor stated that this was a piece you would not often hear in a concert, alas he apparently did understand why that was.
TechE Blog has a nice feature on robots what can skillfully play a musical instrument. I like the way the trumpet player and violin player move and sway to the music they are playing in a very life-like way. The percussion player is very cool in the way it improvises along with a human drummer. I am also impressed with the quality of music they produce as playing a musical instrument requires some subtle control. I wonder how the trumpet player changes its “mouth” to produce different notes from one valve position. I imagine iit won’t be long before we see a entire band or even orchestra made up entirely of robots.
TechEBlog » Feature: Robots That Can Skillfully Play a Musical Instrument
B was very patient trying on every hat I could find in the house (what…you don’t have a hat trunk in your house?) while I took pictures. Music by Barenaked Ladies. Enjoy!
