RoboPiper

We were contracted by Infinesse Corporation in Los Angeles, CA to do research and development for an animatronics character capable of performing musical numbers on an actual bagpipe. Using voice recognition, “RoboPiper” accepted verbal requests for songs from a compilation of popular Scottish bagpipe tunes and then performed them live. Project included the design and fabrication of mechanical “hands” capable of grasping the bagpipe’s chanter and covering/uncovering chanter holes as required to produce specific tones.  Precisely regulated air was forced into the bagpipes blowstick. Air pressure was dynamically adjusted based on a variety of conditions to maintain proper airflow over the chanter reed.  The project was successful though performances were limited to a few, small, private venues.