Programmer, computer engineer and creator of countercultural devices such as the map walking machine, a traffic light with helmet detection or, during the pandemic, a device to sterilize food. That's Roni Bandini and his latest invention has gone viral on social networks for covering a “need” of several generations: interrupting the our neighbors' habit of listening to music at volumes above what is healthyat least for coexistence.
“I have been making countercultural machines for some time and I look for triggers or inspiration in many places – Bandini explains to us by email -. In this case the trigger was the neighbor's music. Reggaeton Be Gone performs sending a flood of packets and connection requests to the speaker that plays the music. Each speaker has different features and versions, so the effect is not universal. In some cases it will disconnect it, in others it will distort or produce microcuts.”
Bandini began to dedicate himself to programming from a very young age and took advantage of his experience and the arrival of artificial intelligence to create Reggaeton Be Gone. In the first instance, he used an AI to identify pieces typical of this musical style. Once matches are above 90%, the device may interrupt the speaker's Bluetooth connection, reduce sound quality, or cause playback interruptions. Of course, it is necessary for the speaker to be relatively close for the countermeasure to be effective.
I made a device to detect reggaeton on the neighbor's speaker and attack his Bluetooth. Tomorrow we will surely publish the demo and code. 🔧🔇https://t.co/RGGpA5hUQd#reggaetonbegonepic.twitter.com/hLn4f9kwl4
— Roni Bandini (@RoniBandini) February 20, 2024
“Many people contacted me to market it or place orders with other styles of music, but I have no interest in that path – adds Bandini -. Regarding legality, that is not my area, but I understand that there are contraventions and violations of laws, in the first place when the music is played very loudly, but Reaggaeton Be Gone is a prototype and not a commercial product. I have nothing against the genre, I designed it with these characteristics because it was what my neighbors listened to”.
To demonstrate that it has no intention of commercializing it, Bandini offers an introductory workshop for those interested in replicating their invention and will publish the code he used, along with the necessary instructions and tools so that those who are interested can make their own and that responds to the desired style.