Specially made gloves let Brazilian pianist Joao Carlos Martins play again | Hacker News Reader

Specially made gloves let Brazilian pianist Joao Carlos Martins play again

chicagotribune.com

The description in this article from January (in Portuguese)[0] seems to indicate that the gloves are completely passive, constantly pulling his fingers outward. He says he wears them constantly to get used to his hands being open, as before they were always somewhat closed.

[0]https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/cotidiano/2020/01/joao-carlos-...

How do these gloves work? It seems like the Chicago Tribune is wholly uninterested in even making an attempt to explain it. Maybe they really are 'magic' gloves.

From the description of the article, they pull his fingers up. He can adjust the glove to change how strongly they do.

The stronger the pull, the faster the movement, the faster that he can play.

Clarification: Pulls the individual finger up after it plays a note...

Summary: return spring.

Ludomir Benedyktowicz (1844–1926) got his both hands chopped off at the age of 18 while fighting in a Polish uprising against Russia. This did not deter him from becoming a painter. You can see his low-tech prosthesis and a few of his paintings on Wikipedia[0].

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludomir_Benedyktowicz

How did you know about this guy? I never would have heard about someone like this unless you had mentioned him.

History is full of amazing people that I'll never know about. It's sad.

Yeah, I got to know Benedyktowicz at the end of a long and winding experience that led me to read on the beginnings of the Krakow Chess Club (he was a founder). Depending on your outlook, it happened either by chance or by destiny.

It would be nice to see a video of the gloves in action, but I couldn’t see one on the page.

Here's a few:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roJ7nZs9Fz4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PZ2YLLQIJI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEZzoJVCJ6s

That first video is heartbreakingly beautiful

This is peak wholesome. Is there an explanation of the tech?

Yes, see the videos I linked earlier. Short version is that the pianist can press the keys but finds it difficult to lift their fingers up after pressing. The gloves have some sort of mechanism and design put into them to assist the pianist by making it easier to lift their fingers after pressing keys.

some sort of mechanism = underpants rubber bands

Carbon fiber blades over the fingers keeping them pulled back (so straight).

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