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Wearable Robot Adds Two Fingers To Your Hand
rtoz writes: Researchers at MIT have developed a robot that enhances the grasping motion of the human hand. This wrist-wearable robot adds two extra fingers that respond to movements in the wearer's hand. The robotic fingers are on either side of the hand — one outside the thumb, and the other outside the little finger. A control algorithm enables it to move in sync with the wearer's fingers to grasp objects of various shapes and sizes. With the assistance of these extra fingers, the user can grasp objects that are usually too difficult to pick up and manipulate with a single hand.
Fingers? Those are dildos. Rig this up to a cock and you'll have an actual use case.
But as it stands it looks completely useless.
... printing out drawings of impossible geometrical shapes ...
I see that the kids at MIT have read their Niven.
this looks like good engineering work...really...I read TFA...but the *design* and *concept* are, to me, kind of dumb
dumb...as in it really feels like they were spitballing ideas and said "hey, why not extra fingers?"
IMHO this is an example of robotics continuing to spin its wheels...
it's a *power* and *material science* game now...we have the connectivity with the brain now...we have stacks of ideas...who can't imagine all kinds of applications for robotics?
now it's just about the power source and making it small enough yet sturdy
Thank you Dave Raggett
Technology is progressing to where, one day, maybe you actually CAN pick your friend's nose.
I would prefer a third hand, with one more hand you can do much more than with just two additional fingers.
Mechanically enhanced flipping.
U+1F595 U+1F595 U+1F595
Strumming on some super power chords!
Ok, so I read the snippet of the article and got one image in my mind, then when I went to the article and saw the picture... Let's just say less than impressive. Those aren't fingers those are sticks.
Wake me when I can strap two extra tentacle like arms with actually human(ish) hands on the end of them to my back. Oh and they should be partially intelligent too.
Grasp objects [...] too difficult [use] with a single hand.
You mean like today's smartphones?
I can duct tape two hot dogs to my wrist to achieve the same effect.
are thrilled.
Sure, and have Spider man trying to kick your ass all the time?
This new development will be quashed by Wall Street. There are to many fingers in the pie already.
And as far as the slashdot reader is concerned, two extra fingers probably won't make much difference during masturbation (but that would have to be tested).
You killed my father, prepare to die.
Oh - wait, you've got 7 fingers and not 6?
Oh, OK then, nevermind.
Nah, stick the extra finger up your asshole when you're masturbating. Best. Jackoff. Session. Ever.
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to me in my job. I could flip off more managers in one action.
are thinking about having prehensile tails now.
Maybe it's a precursor to this awesomeness [1].
[1] https://www.google.com/search?...
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Ah, that explains how Doctor Octopus can control his mechanical arms. Perhaps that can give Spider-Man an added advantage.
On a more serious note: I'm impressed they can control the extra fingers so naturally. I didn't think it'd be possible without interfacing directly with the nervous system.
This isn't a "wearable robot [that] adds two fingers to your hand", it's a "miniature semi-articulated forklift that you wear on your arm".
I mean, seriously? Research at this type and level (particularly of sophistication) is no longer new, exciting or groundbreaking. In the 70's? Most definitely. The 80's, even the 90's? Sure, why not. But 2014? No. The original Disney animatronics showed more apparent functionality and promise than this thing that looks like it was a prop in a 1950's era sci-fi movie or a bad 70's porno.
This isn't even beta we're seeing here, this is for all intents and purposes an R&D pre-alpha: certainly not something the engineers should be bragging about as if it were some great leap forward in robotics or prosthetics. When they've got something to offer that is approaching a functional, useful and marketable status, or at the very least when they really have made some serious strides in miniaturization, joint articulation, motor strength, power consumption, human-machine kinesthesia, interface adaptability & learning, or something else besides the equivalent of overgrown kids playing with Lego, then they might have something worth writing about.
Don't get me wrong, I totally approve of overgrown kids playing with overgrown, over-engineered Lego, I'm just not impressed, seeing as how I've seen stuff like this come out of Hackerspaces with similar - or greater - levels of sophistication and refinement. Coming out of a shop like MIT, this really isn't anything worth tweeting about (outside the interested immediate friends and families of the students in question, that is), much less deserving actual article space.
wow...
first of all, I can criticize the concept and design all I want...it's not rude or offensive towards disabled people to demand *better* design at all...
your (trolling) criticism is also factually incorrect....TFA isn't a prostetic hand to replace an injured limb...this is expressly intended to be an addition to the main 'hand' so anyone might use it
my point was/is that robotics is only limited by the power source and material strength now, and all these (really expensive) hype-generating projects is not progressing science...it's just rearranging of tinker toys, b/c we have different limits now...we have the BCI interface perfected enough to start using for this stuff...the design ideas are there...now its just a question of power/material strength...i'd like to see research and hype directed in that area
Thank you Dave Raggett
While typing.
Employee Of the Month - Cyberdyne Systems Corporation - September 1997
Religious people claim we were designed by god That seems hard to believe when engineering improvements like this can be made so easily. Our skulls are too soft, our field of vision and range of motion is fairly limited. If the Great Engineer in the sky really did design human beings, it seems like he or she could have done a better job. We have features that give us a competitive advantage over other animals, nothing more.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
The "Amazing" Sixfinger: the Most Disturbing Toy that You Probably Never Owned
All the examples look very contrived. They show specific tasks where the extra fingers would be useful. For me the extra fingers would probably be useful 1% of the time and get in the way 90% of the time.
.. two dildos, then two additional fingers, so may be it will be a great thing in the sex toy industry
I can see this being most useful for amputees that have only the use of one hand. The use case where one would normally use one hand to stabilize an object and the other to manipulate it would be very useful to this group of people.
In C++, your friends can see your privates.
Will be quite pleased. Or mortified.
That's interesting (if a little clumsy). I wonder if a different arrangement of digits would work better.
I'm thinking of placing an opposable thumb opposite the existing thumb (a mirror image of the existing thumb) and one on the base of the wrist pointing up which would curl up when the fingers curl down. Without modeling it, it would be hard to tell if the extra digits would get in the way too much, but they would greatly increase the ability to do certain types of grips.
(And why does Firefox seem to think opposable isn't a word?)
It could have four multiple helper arms to assist you. You could read a paper without using your arms. Just avoid having any tragic accidents while wearing them.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
Human progress will not be denied.
I have a child who has cerebral palsy and as a result has quite limited use of her right arm. Adding fingers to her left arm could maybe really benefit her.
Avoid Missing Ball for High Score
Waiting for Eric Clapton to take this out on tour.
Apparently you didn't watch the fine video.
The bright young entrepreneurs at MIT had human fingers to examine as prior art, and what they came up with was "strap two sticks to your wrist to get in the way". The original design of our bodies is WAY better than what MIT is coming up with.
Have you ever had a nasty cut, where you cut a little chunk out of yourself? I''ve done that a few times. I couldn't locate exactly where, because the missing chunks of flesh have been regenerated automatically. Try taking a chunk out of your iPhone or any human technology. Let us know when it grows back.
There are some people with some silly ideas about the creator, and therefore some strong arguments against those silly ideas. Engineering prowess isn't one of those strong arguments. Everything from the water cycle on the macro level to ion pumps on the microscopic level - genius ideas abound in nature.
I had a totally different image in my mind of what this would look like from reading the summary before clicking through and viewing the video. This looks more like adding pinchers around your hand than fingers. I envisioned something more glove-like that rather than having only 5 finger sockets, would have a place for your five biofingers with a mechanical "thumb" and "pinky" next to their biological analogs. Something like taking the thumb and pink off of this and placing it around the edge of your hand instead of off of your wrist. All it needs to do is curl inward for grasping like your current fingers do. The trick would be, of course, getting it to respond to your muscle movement in a natural way.
What caught my eye most about this invention is how much closer it brings us to operating HEAVY machinery by just moving our hands and the machine responds to our movements.
For me this brings exo-skeletal machines to mind as being much closer to reality, things like the loader from Aliens, the exo-combat skeletons in Matrix, etc. The applications of the tracking system exampled in the video are simply endless, from operating sci-fi constructs already mentioned, right down to more real machinery such as excavators, cranes and other construction machinery.
Looking forward to seeing who merges this stuff with heavy machinery first. ^.^
Maybe now I can finally manage to play an F chord.
Stelarc was my art teacher when I went to International School in Japan in the late 70s. He was, as parent said, truly ahead of his time. I recall his early designs for the hand (really, arm with hand) that would be used for amongst other things hanging on to steady himself whilst on the train.
What's old is new again...
They can get back to me on this when it's got THREE extra fingers...and a tongue.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
Have gnu, will travel.
How many of us have tried to do something and wished we had (at least) a third hand?
I would pay a *lot* for a third hand, as I do a lot of my own construction work (building an interior into an old church we now live in.)
I can't even guess at the number of times I've had to wait until I had someone at my side to hold, turn, twist, drill, cut, brace, etc.
This stuff is great to hear. Love the idea of extra fingers.
Although it does put me strangely in mind of that scene in Heavy Metal where a robot, after having "done" a very sexy human female, spins his fingers around with a "whiiizzz", while commenting something on the order of "human woman love sex with mechanical assistance" lol
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