Researchers at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) have unveiled a robotic hand capable of both crawling and picking up objects simultaneously. Designed to detach from its arm and move like a spider, the robotic hand can retrieve items that would otherwise be out of reach, and then reattach itself using magnets and a screw mechanism for alignment and locking.
The robotic hand offers a new level of dexterity, marking the first instance of a design where the hand can both grasp objects and crawl toward them. The five-fingered design has been optimized for these dual functions, with two fingers designated for grasping and three for walking. Each finger is equipped with four degrees of freedom, allowing the hand to lift objects without hindering its ability to move forward.
This innovation was tested in various laboratory experiments, where the robotic hand successfully picked up items like a mustard bottle, a tube of Pringles, and a small plastic cube. While currently controlled manually, the researchers are aiming to develop an autonomous version of the system.
