Cyther is a human-playable robotic zither. By integrating robotic actuation into a human-playable instrument, agency becomes amorphous and distributed as performer and machine interact through a shared medium. A human performer and the machine are able to fluidly move between the roles of impulse and filter. v1 and v2 were designed and built in 2015. The development of v3, which adds self-tuning mechanisms to the instrument, began in 2016.
Music
Experiment in Augmentation 1 (2017) – Scott Barton
Dreams of Massachusetts (2017) – Ben Taylor
Human-Robot Improvisation: Cyther (2016) – Scott Barton
Writing
S. Barton, E. Prihar, P. Carvalho (2017). Cyther: a human-playable, self-tuning robotic zither. In proceedings of The 17th International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. Copenhagen, Denmark.
E. Prihar (2016). Dynamic Tuning String Instrument. Major Qualifying Project.
MPR Lab 