When Jason Barnes lost the lower part of his right arm from an electrocution in 2012, he had to make a decision. In hopes of pursuing his dreams of becoming a professional drummer, Barnes could either use his remaining limb only, or get creative and build his own replacement. He designed a stick-wielding prosthesis out of a brace and some springs attached to his arm. Although his drumming wasn’t what it used to be, he still decided to enroll at the Atlanta Institute of Music and Media in Georgia. Soon after, something amazing fell into place. An engineer from the Georgia Institute of Technology wanted to build Barnes his very own robotic arm, and what they ended up with is almost superhuman.

The engineer was Professor Gil Weinberg, from the Center for Music Technology, who happened to have experience in creating a number of instrument-playing robots. When building Barnes robotic arm, he initially created a single-stick device that took cues from the upper arm through a process called electromyography (EMG). The piece used player-controlled motors to supply simple action from the wrist. Once Weinberg added an autonomous second stick, however, “the drummer essentially becomes a cyborg” because of its capability to respond to live music. This second layer of complexity, controlled by its own motor, uses an accelerometer and microphone to sense Barnes rhythm. In order to tighten the grip or control how quickly the drumstick moves (both essential skills for a drummer), Barnes simply flexes his bicep and the prosthetic responds.

Just last week, Barnes got to use the device for the first time. As you can see in the video, it is very impressive; arguably better than what humans can create alone. “This could change the way we interact with our instruments in the future”, says one drummer. Percussion requires such precise timing, and it looks like adding a little bit of artificial intelligence to the human could mean similar algorithms will find a home in other fields requiring such accuracy. Weinberg and his team have hopes of self-driving cars, or even assistant robotic arms for astronauts in the future. For now, Barnes and his robotic arm are planning to make a debut on March 22 in a concert at the Atlanta Science Festival. In response to how he feels about his enhanced ability Barnes stated “I’ll bet a lot of metal drummers might be jealous of what I can do now. Speed is good. Faster is always better”.