Swaha People Advancing Science and Innovation

At the recently held prize-giving function of The Prime Minister’s Innovation And Invention Programme, Swaha members were able to cop top places from the almost three hundred entries that were submitted. In the Junior Category, Karunaa Bisramsingh of Gyaan Deepak Kirtan Mandali and three of her class-mates of Holy Faith Convent, Couva won first place for their innovative invention of an oyster-opener. In the Senior Category, Pt. Prof. Prakash Persad (Spiritual Leader of Divya Ashram) led his team of Ronnie Bickramdass (Swaha Divya Ashram) and Narvin Ramkissoon (Swaha Shri Raam Dhaam) to winners’ row with their invention of a robotic tabla player. From left to right: Navin Ramkissoon, Prof. Prakash Persad, Prime Minister of T&T, Hon. Patrick Manning and Ronnie Bickramdass. We spoke to Mr. Bickramdass about their invention:

What is the name of your invention and how does it work?
The name of the invention is the Robotic Tabla Player. The robot has to be programmed with the particular taal via a PLC ( Programmable Logic Controller ). The taal is analyzed to get the timing and sequence of the notes for programming using the PLC software. The language is called ladder logic; this is then downloaded to the PLC which in turn actuates the solenoid (electromagnetic actuator) which moves the fingers to strike the tabla. Each finger has a solenoid and when they are actuated in sequence, the robot plays the taal.

Who was responsible for it and what inspired you all to invent such an instrument?
Prof. Prakash Persad was responsible for the robot. It was difficult for Pundit to get players and he wanted something to play long hours at a constant speed and I didn’t want to play tabla anymore, so we built a robot to play tabla.

What impact can such an invention have on East Indian music and more so, on any type of music?
It will be useful for singers who wish to practice for long hours but don’t have someone to play for them, or even for them to use for performances. It may also act as a very good teaching aid for someone learning to play the tabla.

Do you see the robotic tabla replacing the artiste, the tabla player? How?
Human creativity and feeling are very difficult to program into a robot. It cannot replace tabla players when you speak about the human touch and the emotion a player would give in his or her performance. It is there to assist when necessary.

After this invention what is the next step? Any plans for adding variations? To create a ‘robotic orchestra’ or band, maybe?
The next step is to have the robot sense the correct speed and choose which taal to play when the singer starts to sing. It will be learning on its own, when to start, when to play some variation and when to stop, and yes we do intent to create a robotic orchestra which will include a robotic pan player.

Additional Information About The Robotic Tabla Player

This project seeks to develop a robot which is capable of adequately accompanying a human singer for a musical piece. While this may seem a simple task, the robot will need to listen to the human singer to detect the right tempo, select the correct rhythm to suit the piece being sung and also make whatever variations are necessary to accommodate a live singer, e.g. change speed, break and change the rhythm and play solos as required. A prototype pair of hands has been developed to test this concept. These hands may be programmed to play a set rhythm at a specific speed. This prototype has been able to that a robotic simulator is a viable replica of a human player, as preliminary tests have shown that listeners could not differentiate between the two sources when accompanied by other instruments and also the quality of sound, when analyzed scientifically, was seen as comparable to a human. The following video shows the robotic tabla player in action.