(from Reuters, 11/6. Photo: Brazilian conductor and pianist Joao Carlos Martins, 80, who after many years lost the ability to play due to health complications from focal dystonia, smiles as he plays piano with bionic gloves at his house in Sao Paulo, Brazil on Oct. 28, 2020.Amanda Perobelli / Reuters; via the Drudge Report.)
“To be able to use all ten fingers again more than 20 years later is a miracle for me at the age of 80,” pianist João Carlos Martins said.
SAO PAULO – Acclaimed Brazilian pianist João Carlos Martins had not played with 10 fingers since he lost the use of his right hand in a 1995 mugging in Bulgaria.
But today he has returned to play his favorite Bach sonatas thanks to “bionic gloves” invented by industrial designer Ubiratan Bizarro.
“When he showed me the gloves, I joked that they were for boxing, not to play the piano,” Martins, 80, said of the black neoprene gloves made by 3D printer.
The gloves have rods that make the fingers spring back up after they depress the keys and allow the pianist to continue playing.
