Development of an anthropomorphic flutist robot WF-3RII

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to clarify the mechanism on human's flute playing from engineering view point. To accomplish this purpose, the authors developed an anthropomorphic flautist robot WF-3RII (Waseda Flutist No.3 Refined II), which reproduces the functions of human organs: a respiratory system, a playing attitude control mechanism, fingers, a mouth, a throat, a tongue, etc. WF-3RII realized the musical performance, "Mozart W.A., Flute Quartets KV 298" with MIDI tone generator module accompaniment. This work is a part of the "Humanoid Project" being done in Waseda University.