Scientists from the University of Cambridge (UK) have 3D-printed a hand capable of playing the piano. The robot does not move its fingers but instead uses its entire wrist. However, this does not prevent it from performing simple musical pieces, such as Jingle Bells

According to the developers, their experiment demonstrates how challenging it is for a machine to replicate the movements of the human hand. The researchers used both rigid and soft polymers to mimic the bones and ligaments of a real human hand.

"The carefully designed mechanical structure allows us to achieve maximum range of motion with minimal control effort. We wanted to see how many movements we could achieve using only the mechanics," explains one of the study's authors, Josie Hughes.

The scientists hope that their findings will contribute to improving prosthetic designs or developing new manipulators for automated manufacturing processes. 

Author: Anna Khoteeva

Source: Science Robotics, 2018