Some mornings you get up and on the way in to work you read a story or hear a conversation that makes what could have been another dull day that little bit warmer and happier. It’s the little things in life that do it, and today we spotted a simple little video thanks to the BBC. It shows the work of a retired mechanical engineer who has put his talents towards creating a robot that will translate any MIDI file into the kinetic motions of a robot playing a violin. The result is the sound not of a great master, but instead of a ‘tired and emotional’ street performer after a long day of busking. It’s no great technological leap forward, it’s not quite up to scratch from a performance point of view, but there again, it’s creator describes it as a ‘kinetic sculpture’, so that’s really not the point.

Instead we have something that lays bare the mechanics of sound creation, from vibrato to pizzicato every human movement has been studied and analysed in order to replicate the appropriate sound. It may not be innovatively creative, but sometimes craftsmanship is enough. Check out the latest Bob Dylan album if you don’t believe us.

Check out the sculpture below.