Mechanical Engineer Builds Ro-Bow: A Kinetic Sculpture That Plays Violin!

By: | February 25th, 2015

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Ro-Bow, a kinetic sculpture and violin-playing robot in one, can play digital files by utilizing electromagnetic actuators.

MIT-trained mechanical engineer Seth Goldstein created the unique violin, which features four mechanical fingers powered by old-school rotors, pulleys, and actuators, all controlled by a computer.

Goldstein’s website states the violin is capable of “vibrato, pizzicato, legato, note loudness modulation, and some other bowing effects.”

Ro-bow can reproduce music using an electronic keyboard that generates a MIDI file, and “can handle a fast Irish jig as well as a slow, sentimental tune like ‘Amazing Grace,'” according to Engadget.

Marshall Smith

Technology, engineering, and design enthusiast.

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