Hand

Clone Robotics is going to impressive lengths to make sure its "intelligent androids" will have some of the most human-like hands in the business, and watching the way their hydraulic "muscles" move under a transparent skin is absolutely hypnotic.

It goes without saying that surgeons require a very delicate, precise touch. A new set of surgical training gloves were designed with that fact in mind, as they monitor their wearer's hand movements, and provide feedback on their technique.

While it is already possible to control computers via hand gestures, doing so typically involves using peripheral electronic devices. The Typealike system, however, brings such functionality to existing computers, no added electronics required.

When it comes to robotic hands, there are ones that can grasp tough items firmly, and ones that can grasp delicate items lightly. The experimental new gecko-inspired farmHand, however, is capable of doing both.

While there are now a number of robotic hands that can grasp objects, it's usually impossible to change a grasped object's orientation within the hand without releasing it. A new robotic hand is able to do so, however, via its rolling fingers.

Robotic hands do show a lot of promise for various applications, but their mechanical complexity still limits their possible uses. A new air-powered hand is much simpler, but still dextrous enough to be utilized to play a video game.

There are already computer vision systems and sensor-equipped gloves that can detect a person's hand gestures. Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley have developed an alternative technology, however, that offers some key advantages.

When it comes to tracking the positions of a person's moving hand, sensor-equipped gloves are often used. An experimental new system, however, utilizes a wrist-mounted camera … which doesn't even "see" the user's fingers.

Video game-controlling gloves may be nothing new, but the things do still tend to be relatively heavy and rigid. That could soon change, however, when and if the lightweight, flexible InfinityGlove reaches the market.

Capturing the complexities of the human hand is very tricky. Now engineers have developed a new wearable system that uses thermal sensors to accurately predict hand positions, with potential applications in VR, robotics and translating sign language.

Generally speaking, robotic "hands" vary between rigid devices with a firm grasp, and softer, gentler gadgets that are a bit wimpier. Now, however, scientists have created an appendage that they claim combines the best features of both.

​If you were using a robotic hand to manipulate delicate objects, you'd probably prefer that hand to be soft and gentle instead of hard and bony – plus it would help if the thing could teach itself how to perform tasks. Well, those are the selling features of Festo's new prototype BionicSoftHand.