8 string MuscleWire instrument - Fan Cools the strings - Maxime Rioux

The MuscleWire (MW) is a Titanium/Nickel alloy string. When an electric current is applied to a MW, it alternately heats up, tightens, then relaxes as the current is removed. MW is normally used in robotics to operate levers and move various mechanisms (for example, MW was used on the Mars Pathfinder rover).

During the initial experiments with MuscleWire, I thought of a specific musical application: To change the pitch of a musical instrument's strings. As the string contracts, it can achieve harmonic variations reaching two octaves or more. The different diameters (from the size of a human hair to the thickness of guitar strings) of available MW also impact the harmonic range. The thickest MW has a slower response than a slimmer one to the same level of voltage stimulation.

One of my prototype instruments has 8 MW strings (video) plucked by 8 small electric motors. I also applied the MW principle to violins with motorised bows (video). The MuscleWire instruments are controlled by the Système Ki. The electrical outputs of the amplifiers are the current source for tightening the MWs.

The Système Ki

For several years, I have developped my own robotic system to animate automatons, with the aim of producing a percussion centered music. The Système Ki transforms inaudible low frequency modulations into audible acoustic sounds.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Automate
• Ki
• Maxime
• Rioux
• De
• La
• Rochefoucauld
• robots