Integrating humanoid robots with human musicians for synchronized musical performances

• DOI: 10.7717/peerj-cs.2632
• Publication Date: 2025-01-03T08:57:03Z
• Authors: MengCheng Lau; John Anderson; Jacky Baltes
• Keywords: Human-Computer Interaction; Visual servoing; Electronic computers. Computer science; Robot musician; QA75.5-76.95; Synchronization; Human-robot interaction

Entertainment robotics has garnered significant attention in recent years, with researchers focusing on developing robots capable of performing a variety tasks, including magic, drawing, dancing, and music. This article presents our research forming musical band that includes both humanoid human musicians, the goal achieving natural synchronization collaboration during performances. We utilized two for this project: Polaris, mid-sized robot, as drummer, Oscar, Robotis-OP3 keyboardist. The technical implementation incorporated essential components such visual servoing, human-robot interaction, Robot Operating System (ROS), enabling seamless communication coordination between musicians. success collaborative effort can be seen heard through following YouTube link: https://youtu.be/pFOyt1KKCfY?feature=shared.