Event Detail

The Computer Music Focus lecture series will continue with a presentation by Gil Weinberg.

Robotic Musicianship at Georgia Tech

Abstract: The Robotic Musicianship Group at Georgia Tech aims to facilitate meaningful musical interactions between humans and machines, leading to novel musical experiences and outcomes. In our research we combine computational modeling approaches for music perception, interaction, and improvisation, with novel approaches for generating acoustic responses in physical, social, and embodied manner. The motivation for this work is based on the hypothesis that real-time collaboration between human and robotic players can capitalize on the combination of their unique strengths to produce new and compelling music. Our goal is to combine human qualities such as musical expression and emotions with robotic traits such as powerful processing, mechanical virtuosity, the ability to perform sophisticated algorithmic transformations, and the capacity to utilize embodied musical cognition, where the robotic body shapes its musical cognition. The talk will feature a number of approaches we have explored for perceptual modeling, improvisation, path planning, and gestural interaction with robotic platforms such as Haile, Shimon, Shimi and the robotic drumming prosthesis.

Weinberg is the founding director of the Georgia Tech Center for Music Technology, where he established the M.S. and Ph.D. programs in music technology. He is a professor in the School of Music and an adjunct professor in the School of Interactive Computing. Weinberg's research aims at expanding musical expression, creativity and learning through meaningful applications of technology. His research interests include robotic musicianship, new instruments for musical expression, mobile music and sonification. During his tenure at Georgia Tech, he has published more than 50 peer-reviewed papers and seven patent applications. Based on his recent inventions – a set of musical applications that allow novices to create music in expressive and intuitive manners – he has founded a startup company – ZOOZ Mobile – whose products have been downloaded by close to two million users. 

Weinberg's music has been featured at festivals and concerts such as Ars Electronica and SIGGRAPH, and with orchestras such as Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the National Irish Symphony Orchestra and the Scottish BBC Symphony. His interactive musical installations have been presented in museums like the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt Museum and the Boston Children's Museum. With his improvising robotic musicians, Haile and Shimon, he has traveled worldwide, featuring dozens of concerts and presentations in festivals and conferences such as SIGGRAPH, DLD, and the World Economic Forum in Davos. Weinberg received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Media Arts and Sciences from MIT and his B.A. from the Interdisciplinary Program for Fostering Excellence in Tel Aviv University.