Gil Weinberg and Scott Driscoll of Georgia Tech have created an interactive robot that can improvise rhythms – it listens to what you are playing and jams along.

Haile is a robotic percussionist that can listen to live players, analyze their music in real-time, and use the product of this analysis to play back in an improvisational manner. It is designed to combine the benefits of computational power and algorithmic music with the richness, visual interactivity, and expression of acoustic playing.

This thing is awesome. Check out the video:

That robot can definitely listen better than some musicians I’ve played with. I’d love to see Haile take part in a drum circle. More info here.