Technologies

A two-fingered robotic hand was designed that achieves the challenge of stable grasping and dexterous manipulation with only two motors and two 3-state valves. The simple design incorporates pockets of granular material in the fingertips, each of which is controlled by a separate motor. Multiple precision and power grasps, all six basic dexterous manipulations, and the demonstration of real-world grasping and dexterous manipulation are all achieved with this novel design, indicating that challenging robotics problems may be solved with much less hand complexity than previously believed.