At six feet tall, Tammy is physically the largest robot in the Orchestra. The name Tammy is derived from the initials of the first names of the robotic-design class’s teachers: Trimpin, Ajay Kapur, and Michael Darling. Tammy was built as a cooperative project between three groups of students, each designing an instrument attached to its spine-like frame. Tammy comprises a marimba, a plucked-string instrument, and five found-object bells. The single-octave pentatonic marimba is hand-crafted from Honduran rosewood and struck from the anterior side by push solenoids. Push solenoids were selected due to the adaptability of the springs used in their actuation; each solenoid was tuned for maximal speed, permitting the performance of rhythmically dense clusters of notes. Tammy’s bell section is made of aluminum fence caps and rotary dial phone bells. The bells are suspended above the base and struck with rotary solenoids.
Michael Darling, Ajay Kapur, Jim Murphy, Carl Burgin, Jordan Hochenbaum, Owen Vallis, Steve Reush
Mentors: Trimpin
2009
