katieche – looking outwards 04

shimon the robot

Shimon is a robot first of his kind created at Georgia Institute of Technology. Unlike some robots who just make beeping noises and call that a song, Shimon actually has four arms and knows how to play traditional, analog instruments. He has been programmed with over 5,000 songs, two million motifs, riffs, and licks. Particularly, he specializes in the marimba. A lot of robots can play preprogrammed songs, as did Shimon for the beginning of his lifetime, but what’s fascinating about Shimon is that he now is able to play original compositions! Researchers are still working on how to improve his musical abilities, as current original compositions are a little sporadic since Shimon can’t think in long term structures as well. If you pay attention to his song, it seems like the music is produced in short bursts that complete the song.