Meet the “Fembot,” an entirely student-built robot constructed by the scholars at KTH, a technology university in Sweden. From listening to Robyn’s song cache, it appears that the singer has an affinity for technology. Her love for all things in the tech-world is evident in song titles like “Robot Boy,” “The Girl and the Robot,” and “Fembot,” where she sings, “once you gone tech, you ain’t never going back.”
Each year, the students studying mechatronics at KTH complete projects for the university-wide Robot Project. This year, the students decided to pay homage to the Grammy-nominated “Dancing on My Own” singer.
Robot sketch via KTH.se
The robot will contain LED lights to produce interesting light effects. The students are constructing a robotic “heart” from plexi glass to create a chest plate with a LED matrix. The software that the team is using includes two ATmega2560 microprocessors and Raspberry Pi.
The robot contains a beat-detection feature that will enable the robot to dance to any beat of any song playing. So far, the students have been using a Raspberry Pi program that detects the frequencies (like of the kick beat or the hi-hat beat) of each song. Beats, by nature, are mathematical calculations. Humans can perceive the sounds. In contrast, the robot will divide the music signal into bands of frequency by using a Fast Fourier Transform. The robot will be programmed to look for energy peaks in the range of frequencies and dance according to the programmed algorithms.
Image via KTH.se
On KTH’s blog, it was posted that “the main goal of the project is to embrace and interact with the robot, both physically and digitally… but there is a secondary goal – to honor everyone who chooses to go their own way and has a desire to push our development forward. Because without them, we would be stuck in a much less pleasant time.”
The students have been diligently working on their methodology since April, and are still tweaking the robot so it can deliver at maximum performance.
Story via KTH
Advertisement
Learn more about Electronic Products Magazine
