Which is why, when I found myself watching footage of a pair of robot arms playing the cello with the Malmö Symphony Orchestra, I felt a range of competing emotions. On the one hand, it's an ...

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Nowadays, they come complete with a large metal spike, known as an endpin, which holds the cello up by digging in to the floor. Range A cello can play from a low C, two octaves below middle C, known ...