This New Skittering Robotic Hand Could Reach Things You Can’t
The last robot creation is rooted in human anatomy. Researchers at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne have developed a robotic hand with a wider range of motion than anything made of flesh and blood: it can detach from one arm and move around, bend its fingers backwards, and even pick up and maneuver multiple objects at once.
The detachable robotic hand, described in a paper published Tuesday in Nature Communications, was developed in two phases. The first version of the robot had five fingers and demonstrated dexterity and agility comparable to that of the human hand while navigating confined spaces.
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The second version of the robot used a sixth finger to further manipulate grasped objects. The six-fingered robot was able to pinch and lift a small ball and use its fingers to simultaneously hold objects against both sides of its palm. When attached to an arm, the hand can pick up larger objects in a similar way to a human.
The most impressive display of dexterity came from a simple test with a mustard bottle. The robotic hand unscrewed the cap while holding the bottle in place, demonstrating a high level of fine motor control.
The research team commented on this extensive control in their paper, explaining how the robot hand can overcome typical human constraints.
“Although our robotic hand can perform common grasping modes like human hands, our design exceeds human capabilities by allowing any combination of fingers to form opposing finger pairs, enabling simultaneous grasping of multiple objects with fewer fingers and non-anthropomorphic grasping,” the team noted in the paper.
A representative for the research project did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Researchers hope this hand could one day help in disaster relief situations or support workers in warehouses and factories.
“The ability to crawl directly toward and grasp a target object also allows for efficient manipulation in environments such as warehouses, where objects may be located in dense shelves,” the team wrote. “Or in service robotics, where the system can autonomously retrieve dropped objects.”
In their paper, the research team writes that they hope its “non-traditional configuration can serve effectively in specialized environments requiring increased handling capabilities.” Even if the proposed robotic hand is not anthropomorphic, it does not exclude its potential for prosthetic applications.
