Updated August 21, 2015 10:41:19 An American man has been billed as the fastest drummer in the world thanks to a robotic drumming prosthetic after he lost his arm in a workplace accident three years ago. Jason Barnes, 25, was told his arm "was essentially going to die" after a transformer exploded and sent electricity through his body. "I was standing in a puddle of water with rubber boots on. So I wasn't grounded so the electricity had no where to go, it entered my left hand and exited right side of my body," he said. "I was hospitalised for a month. I went through seven surgeries to repair my face, arm, back and chest. "[Doctors said] I would be lucky if I had minimal movement in it again so I had them amputate it." Mr Barnes said he suffered from depression once he was released from hospital. "I had no idea how I'd carry on as a musician or in my life. It took me a couple of months to get up and out of that," he said. That was when Mr Barnes got an idea for a prosthetic, made his own, and then sought out robotic musicianship expert Professor Gil Weinberg for help. "It almost brought tears to my eyes to be able to have the ability to do what I once loved that I thought I couldn't do again. Now I can essentially do it better," Mr Barnes said. He was back up and playing six months after the accident. The first stick is controlled both physically by Mr Barnes' arm and electronically using electromyography muscle sensors, while the other stick listens to the music and improvises. "It's still a process, I'm still getting used to it. There's no end result, you can never be too good at something. You just keep progressing," he said. "I didn't imagine I'd have two sticks on one arm or play on sticks not humanly possibly." Mr Barnes said work was underway to improve the arm to make it lightweight and self contained so he "can walk around with it on my body without having to be connected to batteries and computers". Professor Weinberg is from Georgia Tech's Robotic Musicianship group in the United States and is giving the keynote talk at Sunday's Robotronica event at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane. As part of the event, he is showcasing a robot named Shimon. Shimon is a marimba robot capable of listening, improvising and "grooving" with humans and is helping open up a world of new experiences and collaborations, Professor Weinberg says. It's not about the robot music it's about inspiring me as a human to push music to a new direction. Professor Gil Weinberg Shimon can watch and listen to human musicians, and generate a response, and its first performance will be at Robotronica on Sunday. The complicated algorithms and powerful processors mean Shimon can listen to and then jam along with its human counterparts. Professor Weinberg said he had always been fascinated by the creative process and how people came up with ideas that were not only new but meaningful and valuable. "I have no problem calling it robot music. It's different to human music," he said. "It's not about the robot music it's about inspiring me as a human to push music to a new direction. "So they listen to us like humans do. They understand music the same way humans do. But when they improvise, they improvise like machines. "They use genetic algorithms and all kinds of computer science ideas to create something humans will never create and hopefully to inspire me." Professor Weinberg said they wanted the design of Shimon to have a personal connection. "For example the head of the robot ... it's important to get into the groove when it detects the beat and starts to groove with you," he said. "We have an algorithm for interestingness ... when he thinks there's something interesting he will look at you or if you play differently from other people. "He has a camera, vision is important, not just listening. Together we try to create this kind of experience which will really push music forward and create new experiences and new music." Professor Weinberg said despite all of Shimon's impressive qualities, there were some things robots would never have. "I come with my musical emotions and expression it (Shimon) comes with the processing power and ability to play amazing music and all kinds of things that only robots are good at," he said. "The style is a combination of that — it's building on my emotion and expression, it brings its processing and its sound. "I'm sure other musicians are also excited about new ideas and everyone is always look for the next new sound or genre." Topics: science-and-technology, robots-and-artificial-intelligence, music, brisbane-4000 First posted August 21, 2015 09:39:16
After injuring his arm in a workplace injury , Jason Barnes had his arm replaced with a robotic prosthetic . Seeking the advice of robotic musicianship expert , Professor Gil Weinberg , Barnes designed his own prosthetic stick , capable of holding two sticks . The first stick is controlled both physically by his arm and electronically using electromyography muscle feedback , while the other stick listens to the rhythm and improvises . The robotic arm has turned Barnes into the fastest drummer in the world .