Creating a robotic hand, undergrad students from Virginia tech and Mechanism Lab have mustered what they call the RAPHaEL, a compressed air-powered robotic hand capable of doing all types of grasping chores. The elastic ligament of the flexible hand, controlled from a compressed air tank to which the hand is connected, can lift from most brittle of things to the softest possible, and given the supple nature is flexible enough for sign language.
The dexterity of the robotic hand depends on the task it is up to, and the control is with an operator who sees the kind of air pressure required to manipulate the fingers, which with the embedded motion actuator move simultaneously and not individually. For instance, the operator will create high pressure to grasp solid stuff and vice versa for the much softer things (the hand isn’t autonomous, and depends on human diligence for it efficiency). Follow the jump to catch a video of the hand in action.
Via: NationalGeographic/Technovelgy
