RhythmBot - Stepping out of the slate #4

Proposal for new music devices that work in symbiosis with smartphone apps, by Yamaha Design Lab. ■Official HP. Yamaha Design Laboratory 　This is an evolutionary form of metronome that supports your performance with rhythm. Each of these four small robots play a unique acoustic sound. They can be linked to your smartphone to play rhythms to the tempo you are playing, and they can even join in and accompany you in real-time. Creating a rhythm through a session-like style is a great way to enhance the experience of playing music. This prototype is built to work and can be tested and evaluated for their actual use. Stepping Out of the Slate： In recent years, thanks to advances in information technology, new music experiences and music accessories are now offered by various smartphone applications. While these services are widely accepted for their convenience and are replacing traditional devices, we believe there is still a longing for more substantive and tactile interaction that cannot be achieved with touch panel operation. Through the design of musical instruments and audio equipment, Yamaha designers are well aware of the experiential value that substantive and tactile interaction can create such as joy, beauty, discovery, and confidence. Therefore, hypothesizing on the latent desire for optimal interaction, we studied the feasibility of a new functional beauty that deepens the true experiential value while coexisting with the convenience of evolving IT technology by re-introducing the optimal parts of equipment that have lost their physical presence due to the shift to GUI. For example, when you listen to your favorite music, when you wish to play relaxing background music, when you want a little sweet background music before going to bed, or when you are playing the guitar and want an accompaniment to set the tempo - how would you like to start the music playing?