The rattler is a mechatronic rattle-class percussion, inspired by bolang gu (also known as rattle/pellet drum), a traditional Chinese doubled-headed membranophone.

rattler mechanizes the sound-producing gesture of the bolang gu using a servo to rotate the handle back and forth, causing the stringed pellets to strike the drumheads. Traditionally, the bolang gu is used to produced rattle-like sound through the rapid succession of striking the drumheads. This is achieved with a consistent amount of centrifugal force produced by the rotating motion of the drum shell. However, at lower and/or inconsistent rotating speeds, the motions of its stringed pellets become irregular and the strikes become inconsistent.

The rattler ensemble leverages this characteristic by tuning the range of motion and servo speed to achieve stochastic behavior.