Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Robotic Hands Grip Without Fingers

Posted by Soulskill on Monday October 25, @06:28PM
from the please-don't-send-this-to-japan dept.
sciencehabit writes"Physicists have designed a robotic hand that doesn't have fingers, yet can still serve drinks and draw pictures. The hand is a thin, rubber sack filled with coffee grains or small glass spheres. When it comes into contact with an object, a small pipe sucks air from the sack, causing it to contract and mold to the object's shape. As long as the gripper can fold about one-fourth of the object's surface, it can pick up just about any shape thrown in its path. The article includes a video of the hand in action."

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