Marv The Robotic Vibraphone

Meet Marve the robotic vibraphone.  He was created by Tim O’Keefe, Michael McIntyre, and Brock Roland at the SFSU School of Engineering.

From the  website:

Marv can play music of high complexity, far more complex than a human player could ever achieve, as Marv is capable of striking any and all keys simultaneously, as well as damping each key individually.  Marv can play much faster than a human vibraphonist, repeating single notes as quickly as 25ms apart.  Marv can play with sensitivity and feeling limited only by MIDI programming effort.  Marv is a platform for further research on musical automation and real-time musical interaction.

Click through for a video of Marv playing the Maple Leaf Rag by Scott Joplin.

Also, check out BarBot 2010 this Wednesday, where Marv will be playing live!

Link Hat tip to Tammy.