Company: MOLSON COORS JAPAN
Product: Zima

In 2012, Yuri Suzuki Ltd was asked for prototype design development for Z-Machines, an all robot music band built to perform beyond the capabilities of the most advanced human musicians.

Conveyed as the ‘future of live music’, the Z-Machines consist of three robots: A guitar-bot, drummer, and keyboardist, each programmed to play with strong efficacy.
The robot band, who headlined the 2013 Tokyo Maker Faire, lately rose to the likes of British electronic musical icon Squarepusher, who actively collaborated with them on a recent EP called ‘Music for Robots’.
The challenge was to design a system that could play emotionally engaging music while re-discovering conventional instruments.
The possibilities of a 78 finger guitarist, or a drummer with 22 arms, although partially explored in this project, suggest there is huge potential for Z-Machines is still to be discovered.

 

 

AGENCY : HAKUHODO TOKYO, JAPAN

CREDITS:

PRODUCER : MASAHIKO ATSUMI (TOW INC.) HISAYA SATO (AOI PRO. INC.) NAOFUMI YONETSUKA (HAUNTED LTD)
ASSISTANT PRODUCER : YUSUKE YAMANAKA (AID-DCC INC.)
PRODUCTION MANAGER : TOMOHIRO UMEYAMA (AOI PRO. INC.)
CHIEF PRODUCER : SHOKO AKUTAGAWA (AOI PRO. INC.)
COMPOSER : KENJIRO MATSUO (INVISIBLE DESIGNS LAB.LTD)
PLANNER : YOHEI KONISHI (HAKUHODO INC.) YUYA TAKIGUCHI (HAKUHODO INC.)
COPY : MISATO SAKAMOTO (HAKUHODO INC.) HITORSHI SAKAMOTO (HAKUHODO INC.)
ART DIRECTOR : KENTARO HARANO (HAKUHODO INC.)
PLANNER : JUN HATANO (HAKUHODO INC.) YOSHITAKA HONDA (HAKUHODO INC.)
CREATIVE DIRECTOR : TAKAYUKI HINO (SIX INC.) JIN SAITO (SIX INC.)
CREATIVE PRODUCER : TAKAO YANAGI (HAKUHODO DY MEDIA PARTNERS INC.)
PRODUCTION : TASKO Inc.
INITIAL DESIGN DEVELOPMENT : YURI SUZUKI (YURI SUZUKI LTD) JOE PLEASE (YURI SUZUKI LTD)