Don Cuco El Guapo
Encyclopedia
"Don Cuco El Guapo" is a pianist
robot
designed and built at the department of microelectronics
of the Universidad Autónoma de Puebla (UAP), Mexico
in 1992.
The exterior of the robot was designed by the sculptress Gloria Erika Weimer and is made of a crystal clear plastic, its body is 1.97 m tall (6'5") and weighs 130 kg (290 lb). The robot has 28 degrees of freedom
and was provided cameras for eyes. Don Cuco is capable of reading musical scores and play the music on a piano
. To perform such tasks the robot required the application of frame grabbing, image processing
, pattern recognition
and interpretation or analysis of scene. The design team of 30 faculty 20 students at UAP consisted of physicist
s, physician
s, electronic engineer
s, computer scientist
s, musician
s and designers who worked 20 hours daily for six months to complete the project.
The brains of the robot are based on the ILA 9200 microprocessor design in 1985 by scientists and engineers of Argentina
, Brasil, Colombia
, Spain
and Mexico. The arithmetic logic unit
(ALU) was designed at the department of microelectronics of the UAP.
The robot has been presented and has performed in Mexico, Spain and Latin America
before millions of people.
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
robot
Robot
A robot is a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control. In practice a robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by computer and electronic programming. Robots can be autonomous, semi-autonomous or...
designed and built at the department of microelectronics
Microelectronics
Microelectronics is a subfield of electronics. As the name suggests, microelectronics relates to the study and manufacture of very small electronic components. Usually, but not always, this means micrometre-scale or smaller,. These devices are made from semiconductors...
of the Universidad Autónoma de Puebla (UAP), Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
in 1992.
The exterior of the robot was designed by the sculptress Gloria Erika Weimer and is made of a crystal clear plastic, its body is 1.97 m tall (6'5") and weighs 130 kg (290 lb). The robot has 28 degrees of freedom
Degrees of freedom (engineering)
In mechanics, degrees of freedom are the set of independent displacements and/or rotations that specify completely the displaced or deformed position and orientation of the body or system...
and was provided cameras for eyes. Don Cuco is capable of reading musical scores and play the music on a piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
. To perform such tasks the robot required the application of frame grabbing, image processing
Image processing
In electrical engineering and computer science, image processing is any form of signal processing for which the input is an image, such as a photograph or video frame; the output of image processing may be either an image or, a set of characteristics or parameters related to the image...
, pattern recognition
Pattern recognition
In machine learning, pattern recognition is the assignment of some sort of output value to a given input value , according to some specific algorithm. An example of pattern recognition is classification, which attempts to assign each input value to one of a given set of classes...
and interpretation or analysis of scene. The design team of 30 faculty 20 students at UAP consisted of physicist
Physicist
A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
s, physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
s, electronic engineer
Electronic engineering
Electronics engineering, also referred to as electronic engineering, is an engineering discipline where non-linear and active electrical components such as electron tubes, and semiconductor devices, especially transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, are utilized to design electronic...
s, computer scientist
Computer scientist
A computer scientist is a scientist who has acquired knowledge of computer science, the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and their application in computer systems....
s, musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
s and designers who worked 20 hours daily for six months to complete the project.
The brains of the robot are based on the ILA 9200 microprocessor design in 1985 by scientists and engineers of Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, Brasil, Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and Mexico. The arithmetic logic unit
Arithmetic logic unit
In computing, an arithmetic logic unit is a digital circuit that performs arithmetic and logical operations.The ALU is a fundamental building block of the central processing unit of a computer, and even the simplest microprocessors contain one for purposes such as maintaining timers...
(ALU) was designed at the department of microelectronics of the UAP.
The robot has been presented and has performed in Mexico, Spain and Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
before millions of people.
External links
- Official site at the Universidad Autónoma de Puebla.
- Abstract of Musical Score Recognition of "Don Cuco El Guapo" Pianist Robot.