Rui Penha, José Luís Azevedo and Miguel Ferraz have created some of the coolest music robots that we’ve seen, Casa da Música’s Robotic Gamelan:

A network of several independent robots play some of the javanese gamelan instruments: 2 bonangs, 2 demungs, 3 kenongs, 1 saron, 2 peking and 1 slentem, some gongs and an additional slentem in the near future. This network is controlled by a computer sending serial information using Max/MSP.

In this specific case, all the robots are being played using custom controllers made out of an Ikea salad bowl, an Arduino and two ultrasonic distance sensors.

Yes – robotic gamelan that are controlled using IKEA salad bowls.

If that’s not enought to pique your interest, check out the custom Gamelan Sequencer, GameLan, below:

GameLan is a software sequencer, based on a Gamelan, and can be used on a network for group composition. It will also be used to play the Robotic Gamelan.