Help Support Cyborg Drumming with This Kickstarter Campaign

Back in 2014, Gil Weinberg and Jason Barnes made headlines with their drumming prosthetic arm. Barnes is an amputee, and Weinberg — a professor at Georgia Tech — created a cyborg arm for him that was specifically tailored to playing drums. The arm works by monitoring the muscles in Barnes’ upper arm using electromyography (EMG) sensors, and allows him to drum faster and more accurately than he could with his unaugmented arm.

The prosthetic has allowed Barnes to successfully continue his drumming career, but there is a problem: the arm belongs to Georgia Tech. Because Weinberg developed the robotic arm at Georgia Tech with their funds, and it’s technically the property of the school. So that Barnes can continue drumming professionally, he and Weinberg have launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the development of a new prosthetic that can be used independently of the Georgia Tech.

They plan to use the money for more than just replicating the original cyborg arm. That original arm is fairly cumbersome, and requires multiple computers and technicians to operate. The new cyborg arm will be more streamlined and portable, and will allow Barnes to drum on tour without a lot of setup time.

Backing the Kickstarter campaign will get you access to Barnes’ music and videos, but more importantly you’re funding much-needed research. The same technology that allows the arm to work for Barnes’ drumming will allow others to have functional prosthetics. The campaign is going until May 23rd, and you can help out for as little $5.