MIT researchers have created a hand-augmenting robotic glove

Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology have devised a way to augment the puny flesh and bone accouterments on human hands. The researchers have actually developed a powered glove outfitted with two robotic fingers to prove a better grip to human hands. They have used sensors on the glove so as to enable it register the wearer’s finger movements. Once this is done, the data is fed into a computer algorithm and the robotic attachments are easily controlled. The wearer gains extra grip because of the mechanical fingers positioned on either side of the hand. “This is a completely intuitive and natural way to move your robotic fingers. You do not need to command the robot, but simply move your fingers naturally. Then the robotic fingers react and assist your fingers”, said Harry Asada, the Ford Professor of Engineering in MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering.

Four fingers and a thumb on each hand is pretty useful. Humans have gone from caves to sprawling cities in part because of our dexterous digits. But researchers at MIT think we could do even better if we had an upgrade. They have developed a glove with two extra robotic fingers that respond intelligently to your movements, allowing you to perform two-handed tasks with just one robot-enhanced hand. “You do not need to command the robot, but simply move your fingers naturally. Then the robotic fingers react and assist your fingers,” said the glove’s creator Harry Asada, of MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering. To develop the glove, Asada and MIT graduate student Faye Wu analysed the grasping motion of the hand using a special glove fitted with motion-recording sensors. They reduced it to two basic motions: curling your fingers together, and then rotating them to fit an object’s shape. From that research, they developed an algorithm that allows the robotic fingers to respond to data from bending sensors on your human fingers and move to a helpful position. The researchers say it could help elderly people or people with disabilities live independently. In a video demonstrating the glove, Asada and Wu show the glove assisting in several tasks, including holding a box while your human fingers open the lid, holding a bottle while you unscrew the cap and, perhaps somewhat awkwardly, holding a cup while you stir it.