Sci/Tech Robotic hand nearly identical to a human one (w/ Video)

[The Helper]

When it comes to finding the single best tool for building, digging, grasping, drawing, writing, and many other tasks, nothing beats the human hand. Human hands have evolved over millions of years into four fingers and a thumb that can precisely manipulate a wide variety of objects. In a recent study, researchers have attempted to recreate the human hand by building a biomimetic robotic hand that they have optimized to achieve near-human appearance and performance.

The researchers, Nicholas Thayer and Shashank Priya from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, have published their study on the robotic hand in a recent issue of Smart Materials and Structures.

The researchers call the hand a dexterous anthropomorphic robotic typing hand, or DART hand, as the main objective was to demonstrate that the hand could type on a computer keyboard. They showed that a single DART hand could type at a rate of 20 words per minute, compared to the average human typing speed of 33 words per minute with two hands. The researchers predict that two DART hands could type at least 30 words per minute. Ultimately, the DART hand could be integrated into a humanoid robot for assisting the elderly or disabled people, performing tasks such as typing, reaching objects, and opening doors.

Robotic hand nearly identical to a human one (w/ Video)

(PhysOrg.com) -- When it comes to finding the single best tool for building, digging, grasping, drawing, writing, and many other tasks, nothing beats the human hand. Human hands have evolved over millions of years into four fingers and a thumb that can precisely manipulate a wide variety of...

phys.org

 

[Vellu]

The theme of Star Wars began to play in my head. Cool

 

[Darthfett]

Pretty cool! Pictures look worse when 'enlarged', though.

compared to the average human typing speed of 33 words per minute with two hands

Are you serious? That's terrible.

 

[seph ir oth]

Are you serious? That's terrible.

Couldn't agree more. Impressive for the single-handed robot. Sad for humanity.

Now, you do average speeds for computer science majors ... surely it would be somewhere in the 120-150 WPM range

 

[Carnerox]

Pretty cool! Pictures look worse when 'enlarged', though.

[quoute]compared to the average human typing speed of 33 words per minute with two hands[/quoute]

Are you serious? That's terrible.

Terrible now, but it could end up being 33 words per second.

 

[Blackveiled]

Pretty cool! Pictures look worse when 'enlarged', though.



Are you serious? That's terrible.

Not everybody spends their day on the computer like you do.

 

[Darthfett]

Not everybody spends their day on the computer like you do.

Yet everyone from my high school had to take a typing class. I'm pretty sure anyone at 33 wpm or below is a search-and-peck typist.

 

[xPass]

And soon there will be a robotic hand that consists of 10 fingers and 5 thumbs

 

[FireCat]

I'm pretty sure anyone at 33 wpm or below is a search-and-peck typist.

Only matter they can type. Just kind of slow. Yeah? hehehe

 

[thewrongvine]

It's not that slow, it's words, not letters. I mean if you take different words, spacing, getting everything correct, and typing at a relaxed pace into account, basically it's one word per two seconds, which isn't that bad, if you think about what you're typing.



Yah, Vader.

 

[Darthfett]

It's not that slow, it's words, not letters. I mean if you take different words, spacing, getting everything correct, and typing at a relaxed pace into account, basically it's one word per two seconds, which isn't that bad, if you think about what you're typing.

wpm is measured using 5 characters to a 'word'. In other words, it takes an average person 2 seconds to type the word 'word ' (with a space to account for a following word).

Only matter they can type. Just kind of slow. Yeah? hehehe

"Search and Peck" typing means they stare at the keyboard looking for the letter. It's terribly inefficient, and even people using this strategy can achieve higher than this average. In other words: No, they cannot type.

 

[sqrage]

"Search and Peck" typing means they stare at the keyboard looking for the letter. It's terribly inefficient, and even people using this strategy can achieve higher than this average. In other words: No, they cannot type.

Average doesn't mean "average for computer literate people" There are still tons of people out there who are using a computer for their first time today. Just now. They are part of that average, and the majority of them are older folks who will never in their life be able to type on a keyboard with the speed and grace that we - those born in the computer generation - can.

 

[Dinowc]

33 is not that bad... I took a test at www.typingtest.com
average in that site is 36

my WPM is 45 (after counting all the correctly typed words)

 

[Dan]

I don't get it... shouldn't this have been easy to do a decade ago?

 

[xPass]

They are part of that average, and the majority of them are older folks who will never in their life be able to type on a keyboard with the speed and grace that we - those born in the computer generation - can.

This is why I love my generation.

 

[FireCat]

those born in the computer generation - can.

QFT

I don't get it... shouldn't this have been easy to do a decade ago?

Maybe that's a good thing It wasn't?
Well, Just imagine, creepy "hands" robots taking over the world.

 

[Nenad]

... No one did it?
So i suppose i should just do it?
Just say the obvious joke here?

Okay, this will definitively make a lot of teenagers happy, not having to use their hands anymore.



To stay on topic, this may prove quite useful if it can be built cheaply. I doubt anyone would get them if they were like 2k $ a piece.

 

[YourFace]

Robotic bionic hands woohoo!
Triple maybe quadruple my micro speed(if i have four or five of these hands)

 

[The Helper]

This is cool I bet it has come a long way too after 11 years!