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Impressive Robot Hand From Shadow
kkleiner writes "The Shadow Dextrous Hand is a robotic arm that allows for fine motor control and precise movements. It's accurate enough to pick up an egg, screw in a light bulb, or thread a needle. Even cooler, researchers can control it with a 'Cyber glove,' allowing for 24 distinct human movements that mimic the user's own hand. A British based company, Shadow, has been displaying the hand for several years now, and recently demonstrated its latest model at IREX 2009. The hand, toted as the world's most advanced, is available for sale to researchers (pricing has not been made public)."
One of these, a rubber glove, lube and a bottle of wine and I'm set.
this sure seems like a handy invention.
512 MB RAM, 20 GB disk, 200 GB transfer, five datacenters. $19.95/month.
A device like this could create a whole new industry of virtual prostitution. Although, I wouldn't get too excited because as soon as that happens, the nanny-state politicians from both sides of the aisle will no doubt move to outlaw it. I still don't understand how a government in a free society is able to tell people what they can and can't do with their body, especially when it comes to sex.
No published price and 'for sale to researchers' means $100k+. That's competitive with the current robot hand market such as it is.
It is almost impossible to smash an egg by grasping it. This dissipates the crushing force over the entire surface of the egg. Try it yourself, you can't crush an egg in your hand no matter how hard you squeeze. Where was the well-educated, erudite journalist on this one, exposing this hoary old "Newton's Apple" gimmick to the world? Oh wait, the linked article is a press release passed off as an article, and slashdot is just a blog not a news source.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
Seriously I think the delay might be a bit much for a Mars rover, but it might be nice to have one of thes to collect samples, turn over rocks or something with a rover.
The ISS has the Canadarm, but it also has a robot named Dextre to move along the Canadarm tracks on the ISS, it has different power tools it could use, this might be a nice new one.
If course the last question is are there direct kits without the glove that let the electrocdes in the brain guys tinker with its life-like hand movements?
This might be something to remember if your father ever cuts off your hand.
robot hand + machine-written journalism = infinite fun!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun the frumious Bandersnatch.
I love it cause it's so bad...
Links above go to 2006 video. Here's a link to the current demo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YV6wkczWopY
Q: how many robot hands does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
A: Just one... didn't you RTFA?
It is also impossible to crush an egg against your own eye socket, or in your armpit, as these perfectly cup the egg, again dissipating the forces.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
I'm surprised that this is their most advanced model and appears to have no wrist articulation whatsoever.
And the index finger control was obviously off by quite a bit.
NOT impressed. Anyone remember their Robotron? and this is all the better we've gotten in all those years?
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
...then we might have something here.
DARPA funded research on haptics and "Waldoes" (nickname for remotely operated manipulators from Heinlein) starting in the 80s. A lot of this know-how ended up in Sarcos corporation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nhj3Z9o6t0g
http://www.sarcos.com/teleop_videos.html
The problem with haptics technology is that mechanisms complicated enough to mimic parts of the human body, like the arms and hands, will tend to be more expensive and less robust than simpler manipulators. Much of the DARPA research from the 80s was motivated by the need to work underwater at great depths. Most current underwaters RPVs don't use advanced haptics, because the work can be done with simpler and more robust manipulators.
Prosthesis can change this, however. A mass produced prosthetic arm could drive down the cost of such mechanisms. This could lead to further advances and cost reduction in haptics technology.
We are actually at the point where we could build a Gundam style mecha. (Has to be large enough to contain a whole-body haptic harness with complete freedom of motion.) But there is no practical reason to do so. (Other than to provide an even cooler spectacle at "monster truck" rallies.)
(Also it would probably have an Evangelion-like extension cord coming out the back for power and possibly hydraulics.)
Blah blah cyberdyne blah blah
Just trying to get it out of the way.
Is the robot hand dextrous enough to build a dextrous robot hand?
They are still using (animatronic) cables for joint movements, and the controlling motors in the "arm" make it ginormous!
Any hobbyist with bicycle brake cable and a few servos can build something like this. And the latency displayed in the video between glove & machine is horrible.
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Movements reminded me of a spider. Kinda creepy.
Isn't this a waldo, rather than a robot? My understanding is that a robot is defined as something that is at least somewhat autonomous, at least to the extent that it incorporates a feedback loop. For instance, some of the earliest robots from the mid-20th century were little things that rolled around on the floor searching for bright light. A Roomba is a robot. If all it does is shadow the motion of your hand, then I think it's called a waldo (named after a science fiction story by Robert Heinlein) or a remote manipulator. Most likely they're using the term "robot" because it makes a better marketing term.
Find free books.
Video on YouTube of High-Speed Robot Hand.
No shock, no middle finger? And they say it can do everything. Ha!
...Sarah and John Connor will come by with a big guy from the future to get it back soon.
Would any of this tech. be useful for prosthetic arms?
Will the Robotic Hand from Shadow be able to defeat the Orbots?
Tune in after the break to find out!
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
Because I for one was expecting that hand to rip out that girl's throat at the end of that video.
I love the Cyber Glove... It's so BAD!
"The hand, toted as the world's most advanced, is available for sale to researchers..." Damn, that must get heavy after a while.
Nope, it'll just wake up at exactly the right time and strangle, er, someone.
Damn, I hate it when I can't tell a joke because it's too much of a spoiler....
That's just creepy.
It didn't seem to track the hand movements very well.
I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso
Anyone who has a hand impairment like a quadriplegic or has studied hand movement knows that full wrist articulation is paramount. The wrist can even expand and contract some atrophied hand and forearm muscles so that fingers partly open and close.
Even if this isn't their newest video, what it shows is sadly they don't understand fundamental hand/wrist finger interaction.
I suppose this is not a robotic related rant ... but the sense of touch is still missing here and that seems lacking in the restorative efforts of researchers.
Try it yourself, you can't crush an egg in your hand no matter how hard you squeeze.
Have you ever tried?
It's easy to do, and with practice you can let out only the egg from your fist, leaving all the broken shell in your hand to be discarded. It's quicker than the traditional way of breaking eggs to make am omelet. Since you should wash your hands after handling eggs anyhow, no time is lost there.
Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
That's why until processing power radically improves, this thing would be a lagging mimic of human movement
You better practice on a hot dog first...
..Sitting on my arm until it goes numb so I can pretend I have a girlfriend
. .
Slashdot. News for birds. Stuff that splatters.
I had a chance to see a similar model from Shadow at IROS2008 (big robotics conference) in France and spoke to the sales rep. I remember he quoted the demo hand to be around 100k British pounds (yes, 6 figures!). Had to be one of the most expensive price/weight thing I've ever got to touched.
I would much prefer it if we were using Vorlon technology for our synthetic hands.
A robot hand gets more action than I do!
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
the video is uploaded 2006. Not very "recently" IMHO
or this