A robotic glove developed by General Motors and Nasa will let workers and astronauts grip tools for longer, with less force and more comfortably.
It's a spin-off of Robonaut 2: a humanoid assistant that's currently working on the International Space Station. R2 has a life-like hand with sensors, actuators and tendons in his fingers, which offer him greater level of dexterity and force.
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The team recycled those bits and put them in a wearable glove. So, if the finger-tip pressure sensors detect that the user is grasping a tool, tendons automatically retract, pulling the fingers into a gripping position and holding them there until the sensor is released.
"When fully developed, the Robo-Glove has the potential to reduce the amount of force that an auto worker would need to exert when operating a tool," said Dana Komin, GM's manufacturing engineering director.
So an astronaut or factory worker might need to use 15-20 pounds of force to hold a tool -- but with the "The Human Grasp Assist" glove, only five-to-ten pounds of force might need to be applied. This allows the wearer to hold a grip longer and more comfortably.
The current prototypes weigh about a kilogram and include the control electronics, actuators and a small display for programming and diagnostics. A lithium-ion power-tool battery with a belt clip is used to power the system. The glove's dashing blue fabric was produced by Oceaneering Space Systems, which is the same company that provided R2's skin.
