Sometimes, concepts from the big screen become a reality. The "Thing" hand that moves on its own in The Addams Family films has inspired the creation of a robotic hand.
This device gains the ability to grasp objects that are out of direct reach. It was developed by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne.
Despite their precision, speed, and strength, robotic hands are typically rigidly fixed, which limits their reach. The EPFL team aimed to create a hand that could not only securely grasp objects but also release them to eliminate mobility constraints when necessary. The Handcrawler project was recently showcased at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation.
From an engineering perspective, grasping and crawling share many similarities. Both processes require appendages that can bend and flex. In the Handcrawler, the fingers can serve as legs when needed. To allow the hand to move independently while simultaneously grasping an object, the fingers bend in both directions from the "palm." The robotic hand employs machine learning to function:
“The deep learning model is expected to significantly enhance dexterous manipulation methods for multi-fingered grasping. However, understanding contact information in a cluttered environment requires further study,” the project team notes.
A video shared by the researchers shows the Handcrawler in action. Once detached, the hand "comes to life" and performs several eerie movements. Typically, the manipulator uses all five finger-like legs to move, but with two of them, it can grasp a small object.
“Although you see this in horror films, I believe we are the first to introduce this idea in robotics,” says researcher Xiao Gao.
In the video, the robot is controlled manually, but the researchers assert that they already have an autonomous version. It can execute a full sequence of detachment, crawling, grasping, and reattachment on its own.
Sources: TechSpot, TechCrunch
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