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Pittsburgh resident, Eric Singer,⁴⁶ is a technologist who creates robotic instruments. “Usually when I say musical robots, people think of humanoid robots that are playing musical instruments,” Singer says. But these robots are themselves the instruments, creating music in unexpected ways. [ 1 ] One such instrument is the XyloBot, a robotic xylophone. [ 2 ] On a standard xylophone, a musician strikes bars with mallets to produce bright, sharp tones. [ 3 ] The XyloBot, however, needs no musician. [ 4 ] Instead, the set of mallets are⁴⁷ built in, secured to the frame of the instrument and positioned such that each mallet hovers over its corresponding bar. [ 5 ] Beneath the instrument’s frame is a mass of wires that transmit electromagnetic currents to the mechanized parts that then move the mallets to strike. as a whole. [ 6 ] A computer program controls the duration and strength of the currents, enabling the XyloBot to play—get this—an entire song.⁴⁸ Q Singer has designed an array of robotic instruments— guitars, drums, keyboards, violins. His instruments have played alongside Grammy-winning artists onstage, and his work has been commissioned by premier art galleries. STOP! DO as a whole.