Like something out of the Addams Family, scientists have created a detachable robotic hand that can crawl and grab objects.
Xiao Gao and colleagues made two versions of the robotic hand: a five-fingered and a six-fingered design, with a palm of 16 cm in diameter, each of which has a symmetrical shape that allows it to grasp from both sides. The hand can also detach itself from the arm-mounted base to crawl and retrieve up to three objects sequentially, and reattach while maintaining a secure grasp on the objects.
The hand could securely hold several types of everyday objects, including a cardboard tube, a rubber ball, a whiteboard marker, and a tin can and hold objects weighing up to 2 kilograms. The design enables tasks such as retrieving objects beyond normal reach and performing multi-object handling, offering potential applications in industrial, service, and exploratory robotics.
Robotic hands are often designed to mimic the human hand, which is considered highly dexterous. However, their asymmetric structure — allowing grasping from one side only — and limited reach can restrict capabilities in certain tasks, such as grasping multiple objects at once or accessing confined spaces.
Future research may explore potential applications for this technology, such as accessing and performing tasks in confined spaces.
