Playing piano with a mind-controlled robotic arm

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Published 2018-06-01

The first person to live with a mind-controlled robotic arm is teaching himself piano. Johnny Matheny has spent the last five months with an advanced prosthetic, designed to replace the human hand and arm.

The robot arm is part of a research project run through the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab, and funded, in part, by the US Department of Defense. Data that researchers collect could revolutionize future mind-controlled robotics.

This is the second video in a series following Johnny has he spends the year with the arm.

Watch the arm being delivered: • Living with a mind-controlled robot arm

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All Comments (21)

@iancrawford9658 4 years ago

Yall need to make it faster so he can play Chopin
@gobokinje9183 5 years ago

I love how he's wearing his wedding ring on it too. Shows some serious commitment :D
@danwopp2697 6 years ago

There is seriously no other person for a better project to start off with this good man.
@DeanLawrence_ftw 4 years ago

Arminger is a great name for someone who designs arms
@ghassanawwad99 4 years ago

Say my name. "Heisenborg." You're goddamn right.
@DandelgS 4 years ago

As a pianist i would literally kill myself having to deal without an arm. As a pianist i would probably be very discouraged with an arm like that. There is a huge gap there, thank god for technology and these amazing people for their mind boggling work.
@guisampaio2008 6 years ago

Really happy to see history being made.
@PianoMan333 4 years ago

2019: robot arm can almost play amazing grace 2022: robot arm plays flight of the bumblebee at 2x speed
@kiwi9065 4 years ago

In the Future He can Play black midis that are "impossible"
@djprogramer973 5 years ago

Johny you're making us proud You're patient, hardworking, and really want it to work. You're no labrat, you're a part of the team.
@MrSeals1000 6 years ago

I'm really glad you did a follow up video for this!
@konnichiyawasan1619 4 years ago

moral lesson: next time dont use human transmutation
@rush1041 4 years ago

0:46 sneaky lil boi got me
@djonn2676 4 years ago

Human hand movement can be very precise. It'll take decades until bionics will be able to fully replace its functions.
@michael9712 6 years ago

I've been waiting for an update on this dude.
@potatto8534 4 years ago

2019: Playing piano with a mind-controlled robotic arm 2021: Playing Video Games with a mind-controlled robotic arm
@Bladavia 4 years ago

It will take many years, probably decades till we can come up with a truly life-like arm in terms of speed and functionality, but someone has to do all the pioneering and research. This project is so interesting.
@Joshlama 6 years ago

This video shows to me how important programming is a skill & tool. Like as important as a wrench or spanner.
@ericlin5579 4 years ago

0:44 play close attention to the robot fingers
@squifftopher 5 years ago

You go dude, I'm so happy he's actually doing it!