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Toa Mata Band turns Kraftwerk’s “The Robots” into a performance by modified LEGO Bionicle figures, controlled with Arduino and connected to a MIDI sequencer. Italian maker and producer Giuseppe Acito is associated with the project and supplies the vocals; the figures play alongside instruments and music technology.
What is Toa Mata Band?
Toa Mata Band is a maker-built musical project, not a commercially presented LEGO band kit. Its performers are modified Bionicle figures set up to make music through electronics and mechanical movement. The project’s cover of Kraftwerk’s “The Robots” puts that handmade arrangement in conversation with a song about machines and technology.
Hackster.io describes the figures as Arduino-driven and connected to a MIDI sequencer. The equipment and instruments named in its account include xylophones, pocket synthesizers, drum pads and iPhone apps. Acito provides the vocals, so the performance combines the figures’ instrumental parts with a human voice.
How do the LEGO robots play the song?
The Arduino-controlled figures perform in a setup linked to a MIDI sequencer, which coordinates the musical parts. Rather than a single toy producing the whole track, the arrangement brings together physical instruments and electronic tools: the figures play alongside xylophones, pocket synthesizers and drum pads, while apps and music-production technology contribute to the wider setup.
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Acito described his video contribution as a version of “The Robots” made with contemporary open-source technologies, microcontrollers, a 3D printer, a robot arm, a music DAW, smartphones and pocket synthesizers. That is his description of the video’s ingredients, not a complete parts list for the band. The source does not identify component models or provide instructions for reproducing the build.
Why pair Bionicle figures with Kraftwerk?
Kraftwerk’s “The Robots” makes a natural subject for a performance built around robotic figures: the song’s machine-centered theme becomes something the audience can see as well as hear. Acito said he was trying to offer “a new way to read the message we got from them 40 years ago.” That phrase is his framing of the project, not a precise date for the song or a measured claim about its age.
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The result sits between a music cover and a small maker film. The familiar track provides the musical reference point; the Arduino-driven figures, instruments and production gear make the process of performing it part of the spectacle.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the feature does—and does not—establish
- Established: the project is called Toa Mata Band; it covers Kraftwerk’s “The Robots”; modified Arduino-driven Bionicle figures perform with a MIDI sequencer; and Giuseppe Acito is associated with the project and supplies vocals.
- Not established: exact Bionicle parts, component models, a complete bill of materials, build steps, costs, or an official relationship with LEGO.
That distinction matters if the performance inspires a similar project: it is an inventive demonstration, but the available description is not a reproducible build guide or a shopping list.
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