This octopus playing piano didn’t happen overnight. Mattias Krantz spent six months experimenting, building special equipment and finding creative ways to encourage an octopus to interact with musical controls.
What starts as a wonderfully strange idea gradually becomes a fascinating experiment involving animal behavior, engineering, problem-solving and plenty of patience.
Teaching an Octopus to Make Music
Teaching an octopus to interact with a piano presents some unusual challenges. Mattias has to develop a system suited to an animal living underwater rather than simply placing a normal keyboard in front of it.
He experiments with specially designed controls, vibrations, lights and food rewards while trying to find a method the octopus can understand and respond to.
The octopus playing piano experiment becomes even more interesting as the setup evolves. One particularly creative solution uses a crab as motivation, with successful interactions gradually bringing the reward closer.
After months of experimentation, setbacks and redesigns, the project finally reaches the moment Mattias has been working toward.
Why We Loved This Video
The idea sounds almost ridiculous at first, but that’s exactly what makes the journey so entertaining. Instead of giving up when the obvious approaches don’t work, Mattias keeps adapting the experiment.
It’s also fascinating to watch engineering and animal behavior come together in such an unusual project. Every failed attempt teaches him something that changes what he tries next.
Six months is a remarkable amount of effort for such an unconventional goal, making the eventual result even more satisfying to watch.
Video Credit
Video: I taught an octopus piano (It took 6 months)
YouTube Channel: Mattias Krantz
Source: YouTube
