Meet Ardu McDuino, the Robotic Bagpipe Player

Robots can do a lot of things, which now includes playing the sweet sounds of Scotland. That’s because John Dingley (aka XenonJohn) has invented a bagpipe-playing bot named Ardu McDuino, which uses a pair of 3D-printed prosthetic hands to autonomously play the chanter.

Ardu McDuino features individually-articulated fingers. These are lifted by eight solenoids controlled by an Arduino Mega, via a bank of opto-isolated MOSFETs, to cover the holes of the instrument to produce the notes.

The only drawback is that Dingley currently has to use his own breath, but he is working on an automated air pump. See Ardu McDuino in action below!