I build machines that listen, play and collaborate with musicians, assistive technology that gives musicians their instruments back, and AI that understands music the way musicians do - especially the ornamented, improvised world of Carnatic music.
Hathaani2021–2026
Carnatic music lives in the slides between notes. Hathaani plays them with a single fretless finger inspired by the chitravina and a bow made of rollers that can sustain a note forever. The newest version moves across strings.
Drumming Arm2020–2021
Jason Barnes lost his lower arm in 2012. This prosthesis reads the muscle signals in his forearm and predicts the grip he intends, in real time, on an embedded board.
Shimon2020–2024
Shimon was the first robot to take part in a rap battle. I worked on how it interacts with people and on its real-time performance systems - for concerts like Shimon Sings at the Fox and a performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live with the band Coin.
Mixboard2023
A web and iOS app that uses deep learning to pull songs apart into instruments, so anyone can build a mashup in minutes.
An AI accompanist for Carnatic music2022–2025
Models that follow a singer’s improvisation and respond with a violin line, and that synthesize the ornaments Carnatic music depends on. This was the core of my Ph.D.
Skywalker2018
Ultrasonic sensing and deep learning that predict each finger’s movement from the forearm, for prosthetic hands.
A theremin you can edit like MIDI.
Bowing dynamics for the Roland GR-55.
A LEGO robot that plays chords from an iPad.
A bicycle that turns your ride into music.
A MIDI player built from scratch.
A robot arm that reads a scene and mirrors it - MIT, 2014.