Expert musicians often experience a “ceiling effect,” in which their skill level plateaus after extensive training. Worse, practicing too much can lead to injury. So how can someone break through this issue?

Shinichi Furuya told New Scientist. “I was suffering from this dilemma, between overpracticing and the prevention of the injury, so then I thought, I have to think about some way to improve my skills without practicing.” Recalling that his former teachers used to place their hands over his to show him how to play more advanced pieces, he wondered if he could achieve the same effect with a robotic hand.

Passive training using a robotic exoskeleton hand could help pianists overcome that ceiling effect, according to a paper published in the journal Science Robotics.

Article:

• https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/01/robotic-hand-helps-pianists-overcome-ceiling-effect/
• http://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scirobotics.adn3802