A third-generation robotic arm, capable of playing the piano was developed in China recently.

The robot, the invention by the Harbin Institute of Technology in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, was recently verified by the 863 Program, a national high technology research and development program of China.

The robot was developed with an aim to replace the human hand, particularly in fields that involve dangerous work.

The robot has four fingers in total. It not only plays the piano, it can also play with balls, pull out drawers, turn switches on and off, and hold things.

"The robot is also able to detect changes in temperature and has some vision ability, which means that it could potentially be used in aerospace programs or other dangerous environments, such as virus labs", said Li Ruifeng, vice director of the Robot Research Institute.

In 1999, the Harbin Institute of Technology began researching the development of a robotic arm. A first-generation prototype was developed after two years. But it was bulky, with 400-plus strings connecting its fingers to the controlling system.

In 2003, the second-generation model was developed. This one used only six threads as opposed to the previous 400.

The current third-generation robotic arm is more agile and it requires only four threads to connect its fingers to the main control device located in the wrist.

(China.org.cn by Wang Zhiyong, June 23, 2005)