"a lonely robot" (Photo: Matt Wiebe, CC BY 2.0, image cropped)
Anyone who’s ever studied a keyboard instrument knows it takes years of dedicated practice to play with accuracy. But one robot is programmed to bypass all of that, as shown in a video posted by organist Cristiano Rizzotto on Facebook.
A diagram of a player piano (William Braid White, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
Of course, mechanizing keyboard instruments is nothing new: The earliest player pianos, or self-playing pianos, date back to the late 19th century. These automated instruments worked by running piano rolls – rolls of paper with perforations that correspond to specific notes – over a tracker bar, which triggered the piano’s respective keys. This robot, complete with wires and finger-like attachments, brings the player piano’s innovations into the 21st century.
Some Facebook users tagged their keyboard instrumentalist friends in Rizzotto’s video and left playful comments such as “your days are numbered ……..” or “Your substitute organist?” Meanwhile, others weren’t as impressed, lamenting that the robot’s interpretation left much to be desired. One commenter wrote, “He [the robot] will get more expressive once we install a heart,” while another asked, “Where is the soul????”
Whether you think robots like these pose a real threat to tomorrow’s keyboardists, or dismiss them as silly gimmicks, enjoy the video below.
