Robotic Hand Uses Skin to ‘Feel’ and Pick Up Objects without Dropping Them

Researchers at the University of Cambridge have created a life-size 3D printed hand with embedded sensors, so the soft hand can “feel” objects while learning to delicately pick them up without damaging or dropping them. That’s cool, but still not the hand I want grabbing my delicates when I’m being told to turn my head and cough.

The robotic hand grasps things passively without individually motorized fingers. Using its soft digits to wrap around objects, it holds and manipulates them only using movement in its wrist, making it incredibly energy efficient. That means a single pod-human will likely be able to power several of these hands in the Matrix.

Using the data gathered when it initially grasps an object, the robotic hand learns to predict whether the object will be dropped and compensates to avoid doing so. That’s great news if it catches you from falling over the side of a building, but terrible news if it runs into you in an alley and you owe it money.

[via TechEBlog]