Wrist movements and sensors enable robotic hand to grasp and hold onto objects

Researchers from the University of Cambridge designed the soft, 3D printed robotic hand that cannot independently move its fingers but can perform a range of complex movements.

According to the team, the robot hand was trained to grasp different objects and was able to predict whether it would drop them by using the information provided by tactile sensors placed on its ‘skin’. This type of passive movement makes the robot far easier to control and far more energy-efficient than robots with fully motorised fingers. The team’s results are detailed in Advanced Intelligent Systems.

Humans instinctively know how much force to use when picking up a fragile item like an egg, but for a robot this is a challenge: too much force, and the egg could shatter; too little, and the robot could drop it. In addition, a fully actuated robot hand, with motors for each joint in each finger, requires a significant amount of energy. In Professor Fumiya Iida’s Bio-Inspired Robotics Laboratory in Cambridge’s Department of Engineering, researchers have been developing potential solutions to both problems.