WF-4

説明

The WF-4 (Waseda Flutist No. 4) is an anthropomorphic flutist robot developed in 2003 by the Takanishi Laboratory at Waseda University, the fourth generation of a flute-playing line begun in 1990. Its mechanical design mirrors the human organs needed to play the instrument - lungs, neck, lips, fingers, tonguing and vibrato - with the aim of clarifying the flute-playing mechanism from an engineering viewpoint and enabling communication with people at an emotional level. The earlier WF-3 controlled the air beam by turning the posture of the flute, which disrupted the beam and made performance unstable. WF-4 introduced a new lip mechanism that steers the air beam accurately without moving the instrument, improving the quality of the sound. The robot is built for human-mimetic performance and real-time interaction, collaborating with a human flute player through a MIDI accompaniment system. A professional flutist, Mr. Wakamatsu, served as the project's technical adviser. WF-4 was one of three institute robots invited to demonstrate at the Lille 2004 Robots! exhibition.

特長