Robot Drummer

I built a robot drummer named Steve this summer with a couple friends from Texas State Technical College in Waco.  We used the facilities at the college to machine the parts needed.  It’s a dual push/pull solenoid design for added power.   I built a MSA-T circuit from Highly Liquid to drive the solenoids and indicator LEDs.

There has been a little discussion about how the band is using Steve’s gifts.  Using the MSA-T I’m able to program beats for Steve to play right in Ableton Live and run them alongside the sequences we run.  He’s very consistent night to night as long as all distance variables do not change (like snare height vs drum stick height) but this is easy to set.

For some more info and future purchasing possibilities see:

http://texascentralpositronics.com

5 Replies to “Robot Drummer”

  1. Bwack,
    After seeing your mind-blowing Guitar Hero midi mod, it got me thinking…could you mod an XBox (or even better, an N64) controller to control whatever software Hogan uses? You might get it to be wireless too…Sadly, I lack the skills to implement such an idea, but I thought you might be the guy to talk to. If nothing else, it might stoke your imagination for something else awesome.

    Caleb

  2. It appeared that there was a minor glitch in Steve’s performance here in the Great White North (I only say so because of the way all the DCB guys reacted, looking a giggling at one another…:~>) BUT regardless – the show was amazing and when RoboSteve kicked it off it was amazing! Phenomenal creation this roboDrummer is and 110% a crowd pleaser! Well done Bwack, well done! Soon the whole band will be robots and Bwack will take over the world!! WAHAAHAAWA!!!
    Keep it all up boyz!

  3. can’t wait to meet steve in person! this thing is incredible. every tour you out do yourself – what next?

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