BioRobotic Drumming… Really.

This is not light reading, but it is fascinating. A team at Harvard are studying how force is applied to a drum stick to control bounce. They developed a mechnical drum stick with sensors to accomplish this task.

http://biorobotics.harvard.edu/research/imped.html

You probably won’t read about this in Modern Drummer, but think about one possible application. Suppose they can use results from this research to help a drummer with a damaged arm re-acquire their skills? Maybe an extremely advanced version could even let a drummer who has lost a limb play again.

I can think of at least one famous player who might want to know more about this. I hope the technology advances quickly enough to let him and others get back to the kit as closely as possible. Seriously, how cool would that be?

Now let’s take it one step further: suppose a type of glove could be developed that would allow you to experience drumming at unbelievable speeds?

There’s just no telling…