The Piano Press: A Cable-Actuated Glove for Assistive Piano Playing

Abstract

As the need for physical therapists for rheumatoid arthritis is rising, novel technologies are emerging to aid in physical therapy and motor recovery for rheumatoid arthritis patients. However, many of the existing techniques pose questions of practicality and use in the real world as multiple patients report being distracted or bored by their physical therapy sessions. To combat this problem, our project Piano Press aims to create a smart wearable glove that combines musical and physical therapy through assistive piano playing. The glove can amplify a user’s force when pressing on a piano key and help arthritic pianists develop muscle memory. We built Piano Press with three main modules, the conversion from sheet music to MIDI files and fingering positions on a virtual piano, the overall glove design and the rings around the hand, and the hardware components such as the microcontroller and servo motors. We simulated the finger movement in Rhino 7 with Grasshopper and compared the actuation time and distance to an experienced piano player’s. By utilizing cable actuation and MIDI files to control finger movement, the piano glove would use music to ease symptoms of arthritis while making physical therapy exercises enjoyable.