{"137351":{"#nid":"137351","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Musical Robot Companion Enhances Listener Experience","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWedding DJs everywhere should be worried about job security now that a new robot is on the scene. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EShimi, a musical companion developed by Georgia Tech\u0027s Center for Music Technology, recommends songs, dances to the beat and keeps the music pumping based on listener feedback. The smartphone-enabled, one-foot-tall robot is billed as an interactive \u0022musical buddy.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Shimi is designed to change the way that people enjoy and think about their music,\u0022said Professor Gil Weinberg, director of Georgia Tech\u2019s Center for Music Technology and the robot\u2019s creator. He will unveil the robot at Wednesday\u2019s Google I\/O conference in San Francisco. A band of three Shimi robots will \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=s6bs1rrOwxo\u0022\u003Estrut its stuff\u003C\/a\u003E for guests,\u0026nbsp;dancing in sync to music created in the lab and composed according to its movements.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EShimi is essentially a docking station with a \u0022brain\u0022 powered by an Android phone. Once docked, the robot gains the sensing and musical generation capabilities of the user\u0027s mobile device. In other words, if there\u2019s an \u0022app for that,\u0022 Shimi is ready.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor instance, by using the phone\u2019s camera and face-detecting software, the bot can follow a listener around the room and position its \u0022ears,\u0022 or speakers, for optimal sound. Another recognition feature is based on rhythm and tempo. If the user taps or claps a beat, Shimi analyzes it, scans the phone\u2019s musical library and immediately plays the song that best matches the suggestion. Once the music starts, Shimi dances to the rhythm.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Many people think that robots are limited by their programming instructions,\u0022 said Music Technology Ph.D. candidate Mason Bretan. \u0022Shimi shows us that robots can be creative and interactive.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFuture 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\u2019s song choices and provide feedback on the music play list.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWeinberg hopes other developers will be inspired to create more apps to expand Shimi\u2019s creative and interactive capabilities, allowing the machine to leave the lab and head into the real world.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022I believe that our center is ahead of a revolution that will see more robots in homes, bypassing some of the fears some people have about machines doing everyday functions in their lives,\u0022 Weinberg said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWeinberg is in the process of commercializing Shimi through an exclusive licensing agreement with Georgia Tech. A new start-up company, \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/tovbot.com\/\u0022\u003ETovbot\u003C\/a\u003E, has been formed and Weinberg hopes to make the robot available to consumers by the 2013 holiday season. Shimi was developed in collaboration with the Media Innovation Lab at IDC Herzliya and led by Professor Guy Hoffmann. Entrepreneur Ian Campbell and robot designer Roberto Aimi were also part of the Shimi team.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis is the third robotic musician created by the Center for Music Technology. \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gtcmt.gatech.edu\/research-projects\/haile\u0022\u003EHaile\u003C\/a\u003E is a percussionist that can listen to live players, analyze their music in real-time and improvise with music of its own. \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gtcmt.gatech.edu\/research-projects\/shimon\u0022\u003EShimon\u003C\/a\u003E is an interactive marimba player.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022If robots are going to arrive in homes, we think that they will be these kind of machines - small, entertaining and fun,\u0022 Weinberg said. \u0022They will enhance your life and pave the way for more sophisticated service robots in our lives.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThis project is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) (Award Number HCC-\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Cem\u003E1017169\u003Cem\u003E). The content is solely the responsibility of the principal investigators and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NSF.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EStory written by Jason Maderer and Liz Klipp.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EShimi, a musical companion developed by Georgia Tech\u0027s Center for Music Technology, recommends songs, dances to the beat and keeps the music pumping based on listener feedback. The smartphone-enabled, one-foot-tall robot is billed as an interactive \u0022musical buddy.\u0022\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"New robotic musician designed to change the way people enjoy music."}],"uid":"27560","created_gmt":"2012-06-25 09:27:17","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:12:26","author":"Jason Maderer","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2012-06-26T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2012-06-26T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"137341":{"id":"137341","type":"image","title":"Shimi","body":null,"created":"1449178685","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:38:05","changed":"1475894769","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:46:09","alt":"Shimi","file":{"fid":"194842","name":"shimi_photo.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/shimi_photo_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/shimi_photo_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2008690,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/shimi_photo_0.jpg?itok=5SQcHoLh"}},"71323":{"id":"71323","type":"image","title":"Gil Weinberg 2011","body":null,"created":"1449177367","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:16:07","changed":"1475894632","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:43:52","alt":"Gil Weinberg 2011","file":{"fid":"193516","name":"gilweinberg.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/gilweinberg.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/gilweinberg.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":512667,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/gilweinberg.jpg?itok=yIVLplUR"}}},"media_ids":["137341","71323"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.gtcmt.gatech.edu\/","title":"Additional Information"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.music.gatech.edu\/people\/gil-weinberg","title":"Gil Weinberg"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.music.gatech.edu\/","title":"Georgia Tech Music Department"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.coa.gatech.edu\/","title":"Georgia Tech College of Architecture"},{"url":"http:\/\/tovbot.com\/","title":"Tovbot"}],"groups":[{"id":"1183","name":"Home"}],"categories":[{"id":"148","name":"Music and Music Technology"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"1936","name":"Center for Music Technology"},{"id":"1939","name":"Gil Weinberg"},{"id":"167096","name":"school of music"},{"id":"168949","name":"Shimi"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39521","name":"Robotics"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGeorgia Tech Media Relations\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ELaura Diamond\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:laura.diamond@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Elaura.diamond@comm.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-894-6016\u003Cbr \/\u003EJason Maderer\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:maderer@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Emaderer@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-660-2926\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["klipp@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}