Boffins build a robot hand that types

US BOFFINS have designed an ultra dexterous robot hand that looks like a real one and can use a keyboard.

The dexterous anthropomorphic robotic typing hand (DART) was developed by a team at Virginia State Polytechnic Institute (Virginia Tech) in the US and they claim it is optimised to be near-human in appearance and performance.

That's a big claim for a hand that is capable of many precision tasks, but the team concentrated its biomimetic design on the ability to use a computer keyboard.

The boffins reckon that DART can type up to 20 words per minute, which is slower than the average human speed of 33 words per minute. However, that's one robot hand against two human hands and the Virginia Tech team said it will be possible to hook up two robot hands to type at 30 words per minute, though we're not sure why they don't go for 40.

The hand is controlled using input text from a voice recognition programme or a keyboard. The commands tell the hand to place a digit above the right key on the board and use a specific force to press down. If there is a typo the hand has enough movement in the wrist to hit the delete key and press the right key.

The team used servo motors and wires to mimic the physiology of real human hands, which have 40 muscles and can move about 23 degrees at the wrist, making typing possible.

Future iterations won't just stick to typing. The researchers want to incorporate other current robot hand technology like tactile sensors and force feedback to make the hand even more flexible.

The whole presentation including a video of the DART hand in action is over at Physorg. µ