I have a confession to make. I’ve never really enjoyed being an organic life form. The whole process is so dirty and oily and smelly and, well…ORGANIC. I’ve always assumed that I’ll live long enough to transfer my body to a plasteel replacement and live forever. So I’m always keeping an eye on robotic technology, and usually bitching about it. I was a little impressed by this BBC News video though, which demonstrates a hand that not only responds to the users intentions to move it, but provides tactile feedback as well. Called the SmartHand, and developed by a team of European, Israeli, and Icelandic scientists, the hand is expected to find wide use for those who have lost a hand and been forced to make do with the crude claws and prosthetics that were the only option available prior to the last couple of years. As I tried to get a finger on the pulse of robot hand technology in 2010, I realized there’s so much going on this field that it’s hard to get a grasp on all the recent developments. There are two distinct fields of development going on though; devices that are designed as prosthetics, like the SmartHand featured in that BBC link or the iLimb (made by BeBionic), or devices that are amazingly sophisticated, but certainly not something you’d stick on the end of your arm, like Ishikawa Komuro Labs’ amazing high speed robot hands, or Shadow Robot Company’s dainty CyberGlove. More clips below.

BBC News – New Robotic Hand Can “Feel”

Ishikawa Komuro Labs’ High-Speed Robot Hand

Shadow Robot Company’s CyberGlove Handling an Egg

Bionic Hand is a Reality

A Chinese fellow apparently working on his own has developed some pretty impressive handiwork as well

See mechanism here