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Technology

Drone Quadcopters Show Off Musical Talent Playing James Bond Theme

Mar. 2, 2012 4:40pm Liz Klimas

Love going to the orchestra for movie theme song night? Here’s a high-tech, aerial version using nine pre-programmed “quadrotors.”

Developed by researchers in the GRASP lab the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Engineering and Applied Science, the robot quadrotors made their musical debut at the TED2012 Conference in Long Beach, Calif., on Feb. 29. Watch the robotic orchestra play James Bond’s theme song, which already has more than 847,000 YouTube hits:

As you can see, the robots play various instruments including a keyboard, drums, maracas and a cymbal. The doctoral students who created the quadrotors, Alex Kushleyev and Daniel Mellinger, describe how they even made an “adapted guitar built from a couch frame” that the quadrotors played by hitting the strings as they flew over with a stiff wire. The quadrotors’ performance was autonomous with each robot being programmed with its role beforehand.

Quadrotors Programmed to Play James Bond Theme Song

Quadrotors playing the keyboard with the "couch guitar" in the foreground.

"Couch guitar", a cymbal and keyboard are all played by quadrotors.

Quadrotor playing the "couch guitar".

MSNBC reports that Vijay Kumar, the UPenn advisor for Kushleyev and Mellinger, also presented a new robot at the conference. This one uses a camera and laser scanner to map its surroundings, according to MSNBC, which is unlike the quadroters that only use a camera. The quadroters also need a camera to know where they are, whereas this new robot doesn’t. Kumar said that the use for such technology could be to create a map of a building or area outside of the lab setting without things like GPS. Learn more about that robot starting at 11:57 in this video at the conference:

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Comments (59)

thejackal
Posted on March 3, 2012 at 12:16pm
The amount of code it required to program all these and the time it took to do it is really appalling. Firstly, the mini-coptors are a German hobby-craft, it’s not like the students built them. So basically it was just a video game to them. If this is the best our educational systems can come up with then we are screwed. The Chinese are going to the moon in a few years, and our space program has been instructed by the Obama regieme to focus on relations with the islamic world. America is SO SCREWED!

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- nzkiwi
  Posted on March 3, 2012 at 1:06pm
  I hardly think that this is the best that they can come up with. I think that it is just the beginning.
  
  I am amazed by it. It makes me pleased I lived this long.
  
  Report this comment
- judymac10
  Posted on March 3, 2012 at 2:51pm
  Controlled by man or computer drones can be made this small and
  undetected by humans the future is here to spy undetected.
  Oh look a bird, no man, that is a drone.
  
  Report this comment
elihu
Posted on March 3, 2012 at 10:37am
Put to proper use, the products of these brilliant minds could be assimilated into the war effort…

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- USAMEDIC3008
  Posted on March 3, 2012 at 12:18pm
  Killer bees.
  
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- isobamamadd
  Posted on March 3, 2012 at 3:38pm
  yeah and after they are Totally Autonomous they can be used on you by those who gave you the NDAA and the Patriot Act. Just a Game Now, but look at those Drones, Snuffing People from thousands of miles away. Careful what you like and what you wish for!!!!!!
  
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- Inlandmar2
  Posted on March 4, 2012 at 12:05pm
  Could be more fun than shooting skeet!
  
  Report this comment
neocon1
Posted on March 3, 2012 at 10:22am
WOW amazing

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marjorie faye
Posted on March 3, 2012 at 10:18am
Ah, perhaps these are the locusts of Revelation chapter 9.

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80mesh
Posted on March 3, 2012 at 8:18am
scale them up to carry people .., could use a chevy volt battery ………. uh nevermind

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Mike Benton
Posted on March 3, 2012 at 8:07am
This is great! The next thing you know these little things will be saving lives by flying in to damaged buildings looking for survivors.

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- USAMEDIC3008
  Posted on March 3, 2012 at 12:24pm
  Or to vote
  
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- GENE BLISTER
  Posted on March 4, 2012 at 10:54am
  Excellent point, Mike. Like cars or backhoes or firearms, they’re just mechanisms- tools that multiply human power and ability and accomplish desired outcomes. The intent of the user determines whether the tool is “good” or “evil.”
  
  Fortunately we have a Constitution specifically designed to chain our government from misusing its powers and resources against citiz…er….wait. No…Ahem. Never mind.
  
  Report this comment
RedDawn2012
Posted on March 3, 2012 at 4:36am
If these were created in America by university students, why is it that the only place on earth that sells them is a hobby shop in Germany? First a little description in English: http://www.asctec.de/?locale=en_US

And now the price: 899 Euros ($1,209) – see here: http://www.x3d-shop.de/shop/catalog/details?shop_param=aid%3D17188182%26

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Freeasia
Posted on March 3, 2012 at 1:18am
Oh sure they are all cute and cuddly now playing the ‘James Bond Theme.’ Next comes the ‘Theme to Terminator’, then Skynet, and finally they are travelling back through time to kill Sarah Connor.

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- Just4Rocks
  Posted on March 3, 2012 at 3:00am
  Yes;Cute now—later…with little itty bitty cameras on board–still cute??
  
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- Just4Rocks
  Posted on March 3, 2012 at 3:02am
  Of course—if it saves just one life then it is worth it!
  
  Report this comment
- sixtysix
  Posted on March 3, 2012 at 11:08am
  My favorite comment.
  
  Report this comment
McNamara
Posted on March 2, 2012 at 11:38pm
Me, the drones, my 12GA…..good times. ;)

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Mary Just
Posted on March 2, 2012 at 11:20pm
Any thinking person knows what the future holds when you have an ultra corrupt government and machines like this. Be afraid be very afraid.

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- RedDawn2012
  Posted on March 3, 2012 at 4:23am
  You’re right, Mary, but ain’t they just the coolest things? Amazing.
  
  Report this comment
snrub
Posted on March 2, 2012 at 9:24pm
Well as long as their tuition money isn’t being wasted.

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freelancer91
Posted on March 2, 2012 at 8:50pm
Next they need to have these things recreate the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel……

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kindling
Posted on March 2, 2012 at 8:22pm
That was cute….this is amazing!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmREjs6NYVY

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- freelancer91
  Posted on March 2, 2012 at 8:55pm
  @Kindling Neat, but that was a computer generated animation. The quadcopter video was real…
  
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- kindling
  Posted on March 2, 2012 at 9:45pm
  This incredible machine was built as a collaborative effort between the Robert M. Trammell Music Conservatory and the Sharon Wick School of Engineering at the University of Iowa. Amazingly, 97% of the machine’s components came from John Deere Industries and Irrigation Equipment of Bancroft, Iowa . Yes, farm equipment! It took the team a combined 13,029 hours (6.26 years) of set-up, alignment, calibration, and tuning before filming this video but as you can see, it was WELL worth the effort. It is now on display in the Matthew Gerhard Alumni Hall at the University and is already slated to be donated to the Smithsonian.
  
  Report this comment
- KentuckyVet
  Posted on March 2, 2012 at 10:16pm
  @KINDLING
  I will 1 up you with a real one built off the idea of the animated one
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCIkbr9HCcw&feature=related
- kindling
  Posted on March 2, 2012 at 11:13pm
  Wow, it is a fake! I checked but didn’t search far enough. How sad. There you go….question with boldness.
  
  Report this comment
- kindling
  Posted on March 2, 2012 at 11:28pm
  that Intel machine is better than the project this story is about anyway even if the one that fooled me is a fake.
  
  Report this comment
- grannyrecipe
  Posted on March 3, 2012 at 6:18am
  The real machine is made by SISU out of Austin, TX for Intel.
  
  Better video:
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLdB0WEixjM&feature=player_embedded
  
  Report this comment
- kindling
  Posted on March 3, 2012 at 2:48pm
  The first time I saw the ball video I thought it was computer generated but then I read the message that was sent to me with it saying it was made by students. I believed it because of who sent it to me. I trusted that the sender did the research. But when I did my own research because of what Freelancer91 said I learned it was fake. I told the sender and they were so upset. They also believed the person that sent it to them. This is such a great lesson for me. I liked the clip before I learned the truth because it gave me hope in what people can do. But now I see how subtly people can deceive which is a better lesson in MHO.
  
  Report this comment
Col. HawK
Posted on March 2, 2012 at 7:30pm
That is brilliant…. Thanks.

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psycodad36
Posted on March 2, 2012 at 7:24pm
bored

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TRILO
Posted on March 2, 2012 at 6:46pm
Great, so they will be able to play a cool tune as they are spying on American citizens. I feel so much better. They should be playing the theme music to “Jaws” instead.

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God_is_in_the_details
Posted on March 2, 2012 at 6:41pm
That was awfully robotic … once more, WITH FEELING!

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BurntHills
Posted on March 2, 2012 at 5:56pm
yup, and something like that over our 100% AMERICAN home place has a different name. ”TARGET”.

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- Mateytwo Barreett
  Posted on March 2, 2012 at 9:49pm
  Could be easily mistaken for a skeet pigeon!
  
  Report this comment
AmericanStrega
Posted on March 2, 2012 at 5:31pm
Neat.

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- Ruler4You
  Posted on March 2, 2012 at 5:52pm
  You see? There “IS” a legitimate use for these after all.
  
  Report this comment
Baddoggy
Posted on March 2, 2012 at 5:28pm
Glad to see the tax dollars we sent to this University are being used on something worthless. Oh wait….they will be using them to spy on my and enforce the NDAA soon…my bad.

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- Mateytwo Barreett
  Posted on March 2, 2012 at 9:52pm
  Now you are starting to see the payback on it!!!
  
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Barbarian
Posted on March 2, 2012 at 5:25pm
What would the couch-guitar look like if they wanted to play “Eruption?”

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Tinfoilhat
Posted on March 2, 2012 at 5:21pm
Why do I get the creepy feeling that our government will use this for checking out enemy’s of the state? Or is it just that my hat is too tight?

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drago
Posted on March 2, 2012 at 5:00pm
Better hope i dont see one flying over my head at home,it will be down and in the pot, before you can say copter soup;p

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- Knightrider1
  Posted on March 3, 2012 at 3:28am
  @Drago…. how long do you have to boil these things til they’re tender enough to eat??
  
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- sixtysix
  Posted on March 3, 2012 at 11:09am
  Yep, just as Grannie Clampet made golf egg soup.
  
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TRONINTHEMORNING
Posted on March 2, 2012 at 4:52pm
Terrific!! Monty Norman would be proud.

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- db321
  Posted on March 2, 2012 at 5:22pm
  This could definably win America’s Got Talent!
  
  Report this comment
The_Postal
Posted on March 2, 2012 at 4:48pm
Sooo… who’s up for Skynet?

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- MYHEROISRON
  Posted on March 2, 2012 at 4:53pm
  Hey Vijay! Shoot me a price on a gross of them things!
  
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