High-Speed Robot Hand Demonstrates Dexterity and Skillful Manipulation | hizook

A few blogs are passing around videos of the Ishikawa Komuro Lab's high-speed robot hand performing impressive acts of dexterity and skillful manipulation.  However, the video being passed around is slight on details.  Meanwhile, their video presentation at ICRA 2009 (which took place in May in Kobe, Japan) has an informative narration and demonstrates additional capabilities.  I have included this video below, which shows the manipulator dribbling a ping-pong ball, spinning a pen, throwing a ball, tying knots, grasping a grain of rice with tweezers, and tossing / re-grasping a cellphone!

Here is the video:

Based on the video, the hand uses high-speed actuators with harmonic drive gears.  The hand can close in 1/10th of a second!  Personally, I find the tweezers grasping the grain of rice the most entertaining -- very anthropomorphic.

If you'd like to learn more about this (and other) robots from the Ishikawa Komuro Lab, see their website.

Comments (135)

Buyck<br>August 08, 2009 at 03:10 AM

The rise of robots (including industrial and humanoïd) with good and above all complex skills thats reach human performance is coming to us the next years!!! Robots ready to buy in the store like "HPR-4C" and ("DER3" from Kokoro) with wide and complex performances is only a matter of time.

Masi Mascitti<br>March 06, 2011 at 07:09 PM

I completely agree with your statement, Buyck. With technology rapidly propelling at lightning speeds, it's not surprising that robotics are becoming more advanced. It won't be long before robots such as this robotic hand develop some sort of pseudo intellectual (no emotions, of course) and providing answers to questions we've been asking for years. I mean, just good at Watson:

http://www.uncoached.com/2011/02/rapid prototyping machines/16/watch-that-watson-robot-kill-ken-jennings-on-jeopardy/

Awesome<br>August 22, 2009 at 11:28 PM

The 600 series had rubber skin. We spotted them easy, but these are<br>new. They look human... sweat, bad breath, everything. Very hard to<br>spot. I had to wait till he moved on you before I could zero on him.

Anonymous<br>August 24, 2009 at 07:01 PM

these new ones have bad breath, I had to wait for him to move before I could zero him

Keith<br>August 30, 2009 at 03:40 PM

What are you talking about ???

Anon<br>September 10, 2009 at 03:33 PM

You still don't get it, do you? He'll dribble a ball and throw mobile phones up in the air and catch them! That's what he does! It's *all* he does! You can't stop him!

dancejacobdance<br>February 21, 2010 at 12:10 AM

you are my hero

Muwasalat.com<br>August 22, 2009 at 11:56 PM

Amazing, Robots in Japan are making noodles and getting in the house a little more than they should. It's a good idea to take the world to a next level.

Make the robots do your work.

Sérgio<br>August 23, 2009 at 11:53 PM

Sure. Make robots make robots? What could possibly go wrong?

omar<br>August 23, 2009 at 10:36 AM

holy cow!

that takes alot of work man!!

awesome robot!

Anonymous<br>March 08, 2010 at 06:46 AM

calm down its just a robot!!!

Anonymous<br>August 23, 2009 at 11:46 AM

Great.. So.. we're doomed.

FancyKat<br>August 29, 2009 at 03:03 PM

Check out the Venus project as they want things like this and have a solution.

Barb

Anonymous<br>August 30, 2009 at 05:37 AM

no - we will be finally freed from the slavery of work and money!

mark kram<br>August 23, 2009 at 10:36 PM

I find this extremely exciting and scary. Funny how early science fiction writers were spot on with many things.

droptop<br>October 30, 2010 at 10:35 PM

Agreed.  The existence of robots that can outperform humans should scare everyone.....

Take a full five minutes (one nanosecond in robo time) then think it through everyone,  and see what you come up with.

Droptop

Matt Kukowski<br>August 24, 2009 at 01:18 AM

WHy be scared of a mind less programmable robot hand, that is completely harmless, and really non-intelligent, except with the task for which it was programmed for?<br>I find it humor people are WAY to into the terminator movies and Matrix, to actually think we are any where near artificial intelligence. We are NOT.<br>What is impressive, with the dexterity hand and with a lot of cool running and stair climbing robots we are seeing in japan..is that these robots look and move to human like, we interprite that as it being 'intelligent'.<br>When in reality, the robots are dumb as a nail, and only do what task they are to do. yes, I guess you could program a robot to run up and stab a human being... this does have some things people need to think about.<br>but, murder is nothing new in the human world. However, machines becoming intelligent enough to become concience and program itself to murder with complex emotional and other intentions...is so far away that it is not even funny.<br>But, the robotic movements that minic human movements IS very exciting for what GOOD things can come of it... if nothing else its just plain COOL.<br>The...