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  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

Joyous ode by Beethoven flows from a robot’s fingers

Digits made of soft materials tap out a melody from the composer’s Ninth Symphony on a keyboard.
Soft robot connected to piano keys.

Silicon ‘fingertips’ that pop out when pressurized play Beethoven’s ‘Ode to Joy’. Credit: Bert Van Raemdonck

With minimal input, soft robotic fingers inflate and deflate in sequence to play Beethoven’s ‘Ode to Joy’1 (click to listen).

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Nature 618, 437 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-01859-4

References

  1. Van Raemdonck, B., Milana, E., De Volder, M., Reynaerts, D. & Gorissen, B. Adv. Mater. https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202301487 (2023).

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