Now, A Very Interesting And Novel Robotic Hand To Gently Grasp A Raw Egg

Virginia Tech's Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory's undergraduate students have made a robotic hand that can gently grasp a raw egg as successfully as the machine holds a heavy can of food.

They say that the machine called Robotic Air-Powered Hand with Elastic Ligaments (RAPHaEL) is flexible enough for sign language.

New Robotic Hand Mimics a Human Hand
European researchers have created a robotic hand that mimics the flexibility and sensitivity of a human hand, and is controlled by a neural-network-based program modelled on the cerebelloum.

The machine has been connected to a compressed air tank. An operator controls the air pressure to manipulate the fingers.

While low air pressure lightens the grip, higher air pressure makes it firmer.

The students have revealed what makes RAPHaEL unique is their decision not to control each finger joint individually, but instead use one motion activator to move all of a finger's joints.

Chronic Stroke Patients can Be Rehabilated With Robotic Technology
A new study says that chronic stroke patients can be rehabilitated with a novel, hand-operated robotic device along with functional MRI (fMRI).

"It's a very interesting and novel (method) of actuating fingers in a very simple, elegant, and low-cost way," National Geographic News quoted faculty adviser and lab director Dennis Hong as saying.

RAPHaEL's creators believe that the lightweight mechanism, which won first place in the 2008-09 Compressed Air and Gas Institute's Innovation Awards Contest, may one day lend a hand to sign language programs as well as prosthetics design and other areas of scientific research.

Robot Assistants That Will Operate According to Surgeon's Gaze
Robot assistant that work according to a surgeon's gaze will soon replace human assistants in operation theatres, thanks to the new eye-tracking technology that can easily tell where

Source-ANI
ARU