Making Robots Mimic the Human Hand 43
RougeFemme writes "As part of a research project to develop low-cost artificial hands, DARPA has developed a two-hand robot that can almost change a tire. Research has mastered grasping objects with robotic hands; the next objective is to manipulate the objects once grasped. Research also continues on a neural interface, a direct link between a robotic arm and the human brain. The ultimate goal of the research project is to develop prostethics and robotic arms for wider use, by reducing cost and improving dexterity and machine vision."
Whoopee? (Score:5, Insightful)
I do a lot of actual work these days (as opposed to key-punching) and you might say I am highly in touch with the amazing abilities of the human hand. Sex life aside, the sheer sensitivity and flexibility of the hand is awesome to consider. There's no robot yet that can pick arbitrary parts out of a bin (or, say, out of some gravel) and hold them in one part of its gripper while another part feels for the part's mounting location, then advance the parts into place (rotating them into the proper position as they go) and finally be able to push, twist, etc. in such a broad variety of fashions in order to install it... and then follow that trick up by picking up a tool to finish the job.
We're a long, long way from a good mimic of the human hand. It's not clear that anything in between a good one and what we have now is particularly useful as compared to purpose-made manipulators. Robots aren't that great at navigating varied terrain anyway, so using purpose-built robots isn't a big problem. We have to deliver them, regardless.