The GamelaTron is the fruit of a collaboration between The League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots (LEMUR) and the composer Zemi17: A. Taylor Kuffner.

Modeled after traditional Balinese and Javanese gamelan orchestras, the GamelaTron is an amalgamation of traditional instruments with a suite of percussive sound makers. MIDI sequences control 117 robotic striking mechanisms that produce intricately woven and rhythmic sound. Performances follow an arc similar to classic Indonesian gatherings, where stories from great epics, such as the Ramayana, are told and settings given in words that are continued in music.

A gamelan is a musical ensemble from Indonesia, typically found on the islands of Java, Bali and Lombok, featuring a variety of instruments such as metallophones, xylophones, drums and gongs.

The term refers more to the set of instruments than to the players of those instruments. A gamelan is a set of instruments as a distinct entity, built and tuned to stay together - instruments from different gamelan are generally not interchangeable (though the current Gamaletron is a non-traditional amalgamation of instruments of various origins).

Gamelan music has a long and rich heritage dating back to before the Hindu-Buddhist era (13th century AD) in modern day Indonesia and is considered a native art form. In Javanese mythology, the gamelan was created by Sang Hyang Guru in Saka era 167 (c. AD 230), the god who ruled as king of all Java from a palace on the Maendra mountains in Medangkamulan (now Mount Lawu). He needed a signal to summon the gods and thus invented the gong.

Musically, gamelan is known for its very uniquely tuned scales "Pelog" and "Slendro", that bear no resemblance to the relationship of the notes in the western tempered scale; and its interlocking melody lines and ornamentation with a graceful merger of percussion and harmony.

There are old texts from Bali history (which in part migrated from the courts of Java with the coming of Islam and is partly of shared history of origin with Java), presumably passed on through an oral tradition before being scribed in the Prakempa and Aji Gurnita written on borassus palms that alludes to the cosmic and spiritual significance of the relationship of notes within the musical scales. Sound itself is linked to the origins of the universe where each musical tone corresponds to a cardinal position, a letter or symbol, various gods and elemental forces. The tone ndeng for instance rings in the northwest the color green, symbolized by the letter Sing and corresponds to Saraswati (Goddess of knowledge, music and the arts).

Gamelan music has remained a pivotal part of the cultural and spiritual development of the area and is still very present in religious and ceremonial contexts.

The GamelaTron project grew out of "ReSiDeNt", LEMUR's new artist-in-residence program. LEMUR awards residencies to various composers to create new works for robots at LEMURPLEX Head Quarter in Brooklyn.

Zemi17, an experimental composer, student of Indonesian music and gamelan player, was a resident in the first month of the program in January 2008. He borrowed robotic mechanisms from several of LEMUR's other instruments and repurposed them to fit on and play his collection of gamelan instruments. He then crafted, composed & improvised a performance, playing the gamelan live from laptop computer.

This project was so successful and well received that LEMUR subsequently proposed a collaboration: to design robotics specifically crafted for Zemi17's gamelan and create a touring performance.

The construction of the GamelaTron was fully realized in September 2008

There is a wealth of music that has been learned by ear without documentation for centuries. Some of it has been recorded and transposed into notation by ethnomusicologists, others have not. As the world globalizes and aesthetic tastes and cultural priorities shift rapidly, there are musical traditions of exceptional breadth that are endangered of becoming extinct as masters of music pass away without a reliable heir, and the instruments become scarce and fall into disrepair. The Gamelatron has conceived of a project pending funding, to record human's playing character and transpose them to robotic counter parts. A device is being designed to meter and record the field, velocity, and pressure sensitivity of striking and muting the keys on Gamelan instruments. The data will be transposed to M.I.D.I. (Musical Instrument Digital Interface: a raw data encapsulation method for syntax commands essentially transmitting "event messages" allowing computers, synthesizers, formatted controllers, sound cards, samplers and other devices to control one another). The instruments will be retrofitted with robotic mallets that replicate the human playing behaviors and composition. An in depth project will commence to "action record" old masters performing the endangered repertoires. Instead of audio recordings being the lasting human record, we will have an actual acoustic instrument being played by a robot directly made from the physical actions of humans.