DARPA Working On Low-Cost Robots That Will Make Your Hands Obsolete

Well, not really but they are catching up quick. The research on low-cost artificial hands has been fruitful and the organization has #-Link-Snipped-#of yet another milestone achieved by the mimic robot. In the clip, the robotic hand takes the part of pit crew and removes a car tire by unscrewing it effortlessly. Experts are keen on emulating the finer movements and gestures of the human hand and incorporate it into the robot's feature set. The focus is not only on developing a robotic hand which masters the details but doing so at a low-cost. The Pentagon program is in its third-phase and their next immediate goal is to make the robot capable of fixing the tire in one place with nuts and bolts. The long term goal is to develop robot hands that would detect an explosive device with touch alone.



DARPA believes it can bring down the traditional cost of $10000 for such a prosthetic device to $3000, so that one day it can be made available for wide use. $3000 is still quite expensive for an average buyer, but I guess that's the price you pay for the luxury of artificial hands.

Source: DARPA wants to build low-cost robots that mimic your hand's finest movements - The Verge