Cost Effective All-Purpose Robotic Hand Can Disable Even Bombs

With the kind innovation taking place at a rapid rate in the field of robotics it looks like robots are soon going to take over the world. A latest invention is this field comes from Sandia National Laboratories - a cost effective modular robotic hand that can mimic a human hand and is used in disarming improvised explosive devices or IEDs.

The new Sandia Hand overcomes all challenges such as cost, durability, dexterity and modularity that were prime reasons that initially hampered the widespread adoption of robotic hands.

"Current iterations of robotic hands can cost more than $250,000. We need the flexibility and capability of a robotic hand to save human lives, and it needs to be priced for wide distribution to troops," said Sandia senior manager Philip Heermann.

Funded by Defense Advanced Research Projects agency (DARPA) the goal in constructing this was to build a capable and affordable robotic system.

"Hands are considered the most difficult part of the robotic system, and are also the least available due to the need for high dexterity at a low cost," said Principal Investigator Curt Salisbury.

The unique factor of the Sandia Hand apart from the durability is that it has a modular hand in which different types of fingers can attached with magnets and quickly plugged into the hand frame. The immense flexibility allows it to attach additional fingers or other tools such as flashlights, screwdrivers or cameras.

"Rather than breaking the hand, this configuration allows the user to recover very quickly, and fingers can easily be put back in their sockets," Salisbury said. "In addition, if a finger pops off, the robot can actually pick it up with the remaining fingers, move into position and resocket the finger by itself."

Sandia along with researchers at Stanford University developed the hardware and worked with consulting firm LUNA to drive down costs. Expected to cost about $10,000, a fraction of a normal robot hand of $250,000, the fingers are designed to detach automatically to avoid damage if the hand hits a wall or other solid object. The robot is controlled by operators using glove the first time users can manipulate the robot very easily.

According to the researchers, "Often, bombs are disarmed simply by blowing them up. While effective, that destroys evidence and presents a challenge to investigators trying to catch the bomb maker. A robotic hand that can handle the delicate disarming operation while preserving the evidence could lead to more arrests, and fewer bombs."

"The Sandia Hand has 12 degrees of freedom, and is estimated to retail for about $ 800 per degree of freedom $10,000 total in low-volume production. This 90 percent cost reduction is really a breakthrough," said Salisbury. "Additionally, because much of the technology resides in the individual finger modules, hands with custom numbers and arrangements of fingers will be quite affordable."

"At this price point, the Sandia Hand has the potential to be a disruptive technology," added Heermann. "Computers, calculators and cell phones became part of daily life and drastically changed how we do things when the price became affordable. This hand has the same potential, especially given that high-volume production can further reduce the cost."