5/25/2006

Roomba hacked into slightly cruddy musical instrument


Roomba vacuum cleaner robots contain a little beeper and several noisy motors. So, Tod Kurt decided he could put the whole thing under MIDI control, so you can play a Roomba from a MIDI keyboard. If you're running RoombaMidi, you can play an E three octaves below middle C, and the robot will spin left. Press the key harder, and it will spin faster. Play a low C sharp and the LED will flash. Hit the key harder, and it will change colour. The low C triggers the vacuum motor, which creates a kind of kick drum thud. Tod's software is written in Java and is currently Mac only. This YouTube demo video isn't too musical, but the sofware can control up to 16 Roombas over different MIDI channels, which will surely make for a pretty impressive art installation one day.
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10 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:24 pm

    Nightmares of legions of bluetooth controlled flashing roombas playing the mario song will disrupt my sleep this night.

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  2. Awakened Yeti12:12 am

    damn, talk about "free time"

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  3. Anonymous8:28 am

    make my toaster play
    wu tang

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  4. Anonymous10:41 am

    Kudos to the spirit of ACTUALLY "doing it" rather than "wouldn't it be cool if..." Thank Gawd for MT and its incredible readers!



    *The following link takes you to some (admittedly off topic) vintage Elfman

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-CAN1mRGIo&search=oingo%20boingo

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  5. Tom Whitwell2:18 pm

    Hmm... I think Tod gets the credit - he sent me the email saying 'Look at this cool thing I invented'

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  6. Anonymous3:31 pm

    I find it slightly funny that because of this one post, all of the google ads are now for Roombas. I wonder if I say Dodge Viper enough, if there will be Dodge Viper ads. Dodge Viper Dodge Viper Dodge Viper. Dodge Vipers suck.

    -Jake

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  7. Anonymous3:29 am

    Mama Mia! Here's an idea: let your musical Roomba do it's normal cleaning routine, then have it play the SMB flagpole fanfare when it's done.

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  8. Anonymous7:39 pm

    That's just great! Turning a Roomba into a musical instrument is fantastic.

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  9. Anonymous5:40 pm

    I wonder what the Roomba instrument would sound like with adding feedback?

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  10. Rockon11:34 am

    I think Tod gets the credit - he sent me the email saying 'Look at this cool thing I invented'

    ReplyDelete

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