Disarm: Turning Guns into a Mechanised Musical Orchestra
http://hackaday.com/2013/09/16/disarm-turning-guns-into-a-mechanised-musical-orchestra/
Pedro Reyes is a visual artist who lives in Mexico City. His most recent project was called Disarm a unique exhibit that combined dismantled weapons with sculpture and technology.
The army in Mexico seizes firearms on a regular basis and they are typically either buried or destroyed. But this time a friend working for the National Crime Prevention Commission thought to ask Pedro if he could use them for something. A few hundred non-functional guns later, and Pedro has a fully automated mechanical orchestra. The articles dont go into much information about how it works, but it looks like solenoids are mostly utilized to actuate the various instruments. The entire setup is then controlled by a computer, but theres not much information on the interface design.
When asked about the project, Pedro explained his reasoning: The beautiful thing about Disarm as a project is that it combines music, with sculpture, and at the same time, with technology. This is the redemption of metal that could have taken your life or mine. So they are better as musical instruments.
Maybe not as useful as the proverbial plowshares, but WAY cooler!