MozARM’s first symphony! Scientists create a 3D-printed robotic hand that can play Jingle Bells on the piano

A 3D-printed robot hand that can play simple tunes on the piano, including jingle bells, has been built by scientists, according to Daily Mail. 

The robotic hand plays simple musical phrases on the piano by moving its wrist.

Scientists have said the robot is limited in what it can play but reveals how complex the mechanics of the human hand are and how difficult it is to replicate. 

The robot hand was made by 3D-printing soft and rigid materials together to replicate all the bones and ligaments – but not the muscles or tendons – in a human hand.

Cambridge researchers working on the project say the robot has a limited movement compared to a human hand but were surprised by the wide range it was still capable of.  

Using the ‘passive’ movement – in which the fingers cannot move independently – the robot was able to mimic different styles of piano playing.  

Study first author Josie Hughes, conducting her PhD research in Cambridge’s Department of Engineering, said: ‘We can use passivity to achieve a wide range of movement in robots: walking, swimming or flying, for example.

‘Smart mechanical design enables us to achieve the maximum range of movement with minimal control costs: we wanted to see just how much movement we could get with mechanics alone.’ 

 The researchers programmed the robot to play a number of short musical phrases with clipped (staccato) or smooth (legato) notes, achieved through the movement of the wrist.

Ms Hughes said: ‘It’s just the basics at this point, but even with this single movement, we can still get quite complex and nuanced behaviour.’

Recreating all the dexterity and adaptability of the human hand in a robot is a massive research challenge.

Most of today’s advanced robots are not capable of manipulation tasks which small children can perform with ease.

Research leader Dr Fumiya Iida said: ‘The basic motivation of this project is to understand embodied intelligence, that is, the intelligence in our mechanical body.

‘Our bodies consist of smart mechanical designs such as bones, ligaments, and skins that help us behave intelligently even without active brain-led control.

‘By using the state-of-the-art 3D printing technology to print human-like soft hands, we are now able to explore the importance of physical designs, in isolation from active control, which is impossible to do with human piano players as the brain cannot be ‘switched off’ like our robot.’

The findings, could help inform the design of robots that are capable of more natural movement with minimal energy use.

Despite the limitations of the robot hand, the researchers say their approach will drive further studies of the underlying principles of skeletal dynamics to achieve complex movement tasks, as well as learning where the limitations for passive movement systems lie.

Dr Iida said: ‘This approach to mechanical design can change how we build robotics.

‘The fabrication approach allows us to design mechanically intelligent structures in a way that is highly scalable.’

Ms Hughes added: ‘We can extend this research to investigate how we can achieve even more complex manipulation tasks: developing robots which can perform medical procedures or handle fragile objects, for instance.

‘This approach also reduces the amount of machine learning required to control the hand; by developing mechanical systems with intelligence built in, it makes control much easier for robots to learn.’

N.H.Kh