ICCMR’s singing robots, Tom, Dick and Harry, were programmed at the University of Plymouth to sing Happy Birthday to celebrate the centenary of the London Science Museum. The robots were on display at the Science Museum’s Dana Centre on 10 June 2009.

This is what ICCMR has to say about their singing robots:

ICCMR is a pioneer in adopting a computational neo-Darwinian approach to study and make music. We are developing Evolutionary Computation and Artificial Life techniques to model the evolution of music in surrogate societies of artificial agents and robotic simulations. These systems are programmed with the cognitive and physical abilities deemed necessary to evolve music, rather than with preconceived music rules, knowledge and procedures.

We developed a computational model that simulates the role of imitation in the development of music. This model has recently been implemented as a robotic simulation, which made an impact in the scientific community, resulting in press coverage by New Scientist.

We are currently developing a more sophisticated model inspired by Wundt’s theory of cognition to simulate the role of complexity in the evolution of music. We are also investigating the role of emotions in sound-based communication systems.