Gil Weinberg at Georgia Tech designs robots that make music. His newest project involves musical robots collaborating with the design of a cybernetic upgrade that gives a drummer who's missing an arm a robotic arm with a musical mind of its own.
Jason Barnes is a human drummer who lost his right arm just below the elbow a few years ago. To keep drumming, he built his own prosthetic, but it didn't provide him with the same level of control as a wrist and fingers would have.
That second stick listens to the music that Jason is playing, and then improvises an accompaniment to play along with him. What's fascinating is that the second stick allows Jason to do stuff that humans can't do. He can play faster, with a more stable beat, than any human can, because he's part robot.