ARE DJ’s, INSTRUMENTALISTS ABOUT TO LOSE THEIR JOBS?
Joseph Omoniyi
Renowned New Zealand music artiste and composer, Nigel Stanford employed the service of robotic arms as DJ and instrumentalists in his new music video, AUTOMATICA, which kept many wondering at the possibilities of having many hands obsolete quicker than we think.
Nigel in collaboration with KUKA Robotics(Keller und Knappich Augsburg), manufacturer of industrial robots and Nigel created a beautiful masterpiece which had robotic arms, a 6 axis articulated robots made by KUKA, playing musical instruments
Hotjist gathered that, it took over 3 years to program the robots to work collectively. There were few times the robots had to be replaced due to collusion with other equipment. Although there are few CGI elements but the movements of the robots are real.
Nigel wrote on his website, ‘For me this was a labor of love, exploring how technology is changing everything in our lives, affecting how humans interact with each other and what creativity means as more and more processes become automated.’
According to Wikipedia, KUKA’s partnership with RoboCoaster has also seen KUKA robots appear in some Hollywood films.
In the James Bond film Die Another Day, in a scene depicting an ice palace in Iceland, NSA agent Jinx, played by Halle Berry is threatened by laser-wielding robots. In the Ron Howard film The Da Vinci Code, a KUKA robot hands Tom Hanks’ character Robert Langdon a container containing a cryptex.
A second generation system, the RoboCoaster G2, was deployed at Universal’s Island of Adventure theme park in Orlando Florida in 2010, in conjunction with Dynamic structures.
Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journeyseats are mounted on robotic arms, which are in turn mounted on a track allowing the arms to travel through the attraction while performing their movements in synchronization with the ride’s show elements (animated props, projection surfaces, etc.).
In 2007, KUKA introduced a simulator, based on the Robocoaster. RoboCoaster Ltd does not market this product.
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