Quest for a sensitive robot hand bears fruit

ROBOTIC hands that could spell the end for fruit pickers have been developed at Stanford University.

Scientists in the United States have developed electronic gloves designed to give robots an improved ability to touch and grasp delicate objects in a similar way to human hands.

The technology is likely to be useful for those companies developing farming robots, which need to be able to handle delicate crops without damaging them.

A team led by Prof Zhenan Bao, a chemical engineer, developed a glove which includes sensors in its fingertips that measure the intensity and direction of pressure. The glove imitates the way layers of skin in the human hand work together to make them sensitive to pressure.

Robots are skilled at basic tasks, but struggle to judge the correct amount of pressure needed when handling more delicate items. This means that, to date, they have been largely unsuitable for use in agriculture.

“We can now program a robotic hand to touch a raspberry without crushing it, but we’re a long way from being able to touch and detect whether it is raspberry, and enable the robot to pick it up,” Prof Bao said.

Many universities and private companies such as Amazon and Toyota are researching how to develop systems to allow robots to acquire a delicate touch.