Superhuman cyborg drummer plays his first live gig

The cyborg musician has taken the stage. Drummer Jason Barnes, whose lower right arm was amputated after a freak accident debuted his new robotic limb at the Atlanta Science Festival last month.

The prosthesis was designed by Gil Weinberg and colleagues at the Georgia Institute of Technology. When Barnes tenses his biceps, he sends electrical signals to a small motor that controls how tightly the drumstick is gripped and how quickly it moves. In addition, a second, autonomous drumstick uses algorithms to add its own beat to the mix.

The arm can borrow from the styles of famous musicians, and be set to play more quickly than any human. This makes Barnes a kind of "superhuman drummer", Weinberg says.

The festival was the first time that Barnes had played live using the prosthetic (watch the full video). The drummer and scientist told the story of how they had come together to build the arm. At the event, Weinberg said he was curious to see "what happens when the intimate connections that can be created between human and robots was not separate".

For his part, Barnes was amazed at the lab's commitment to building the arm for him. "Mind-blown," he said.