Musician Builds A Robotic Instrument That Reads The Tattoo On His Arm

Moscow-based artist Dmitry Morozov, also known as “vtol”, has built a robotic system to read a tattoo on his arm like a musical score. The sounds this thing makes are pretty gnarly.

Called “Reading My Body,” the artistic work consists of a machine that uses sensors which move up and down a set of rails reading Morozov’s specially designed tattoo. He “plays” the instrument using a Wii remote that allows him to vary a set of parameters that control how the machine interprets the score. In other words, Morozov is making cyborg music.

That’s the idea, I think. Now if only he built an instrument to read all the arm tattoos I see on the subway everyday, we’d be in business. [vtol via Create Digital Music]