Modernizing the Machine Lab with Mechatronic Immersive Design and Artificial Intelligence

Colton Arnold; Zhaohan Cheng; Ajay Kapur

Modernizing the Machine Lab with Mechatronic Immersive Design and Artificial Intelligence
Image credit: Colton Arnold; Zhaohan Cheng; Ajay Kapur

Abstract:

This paper presents the modernization of the Machine Lab, a creative studio that integrates digital control with the acous- tic physicality of mechatronic musical instruments. Central to this update is the installation of a mechatronic instrument, an 8×8 array of Modulets mounted on the lab’s ceiling, forming an immersive, distributed acoustic environment that enables high- resolution spatialized sound across 64 discrete locations. Key architectural updates include the re-integration of Open Sound Control (OSC), enabling performers and composers to wirelessly network for flexible ensemble configurations. In ad- dition, a novel AI-driven calibration framework is introduced using ChucK’s ChAi library, employing a weighted ensemble of a multi-layer perceptron (MLP) and a k-nearest neighbor (KNN) model. This approach reduces the subjectivity of manual configu- ration of the mechatronic instruments while ensuring consistent dynamic response and timing accuracy across the Machine Lab. Together, these updates position our collection custom built instruments as a scalable platform for immersive performance, pedagogy, and experimental research in mechatronic music sys- tems, supporting both structured composition and exploratory, data-drive practices.