A team of researchers has developed an automated hand using stereoscopic printing techniques that can play simple piano music by moving the wrist and fingers.
The hand, created by researchers from the University of Cambridge, consists of solid and soft materials that have been assembled together to replace bones and ligaments, but not muscles in the human hand.
Although the movements of this hand are very simple compared to the real man´s hand, they can perform a wide range of movements thanks to its advanced mechanical design.
Through the use of "negative movements", in the sense that the mechanical fingers can not move independently of each other, this automatic hand can mimic some movements of music without the need to change the mechanical nature of the hand or materials used in the manufacture.
The results of this experiment, reported in the journal Science Robotics, can help create a robot capable of making more natural movements with minimal energy.
"We can use negative movements to enable robots to do a large number of tasks, such as walking, swimming or even flying," said researcher Hughes Hughes, head of the study team. "The robot´s intelligent mechanical designs allow us to maximize movements with minimal energy. .
In recent years, soft components have been introduced into robotics thanks to advances in 3D printing, allowing researchers to add some complex movements to the negative systems of robots.
