Development of a new anthropomorphic flutist robot WF-4

Since 1990, we have been developing anthropomorphic flutist robots, which are mechanically similar to human organs needed for playing the flute. The goal of this research is to clarify the flute playing mechanism from an engineering point of view and to enable the communication with humans at emotional level. The control of the air beam parameters for obtaining a good sound is very important. Such parameters are related mainly to the lips shape and its relative position respect to the flute embouchure hole. Then, the newest version of the anthropomorphic flutist robot WF-4 has been implemented by improving the design of each part of the robot (lips, lungs, neck, etc.). This new version has succeeded in the improvement of the flute sound quality and the sound conversion efficiency. We describe the mechanical features of the WF-4 and the experiments done for evaluating its musical performance.