“This is new territory for robotics and prosthetics, which haven’t fully embraced this hybrid technology before. It’s being able to give a firm handshake or pick up a soft object without fear of crushing it,” said Sankar.
Bioinspired tech allows hand to function using muscle signals
Engineers maintained that the bioinspired technology allows the hand to function using muscle signals from the forearm, like most hand prostheses. These signals bridge the brain and nerves, allowing the hand to flex, release, or react based on its sense of touch. The result is a robotic hand that intuitively “knows” what it’s touching, much like the nervous system does.
“If you’re holding a cup of coffee, how do you know you’re about to drop it? Your palm and fingertips send signals to your brain that the cup is slipping,” Nitish Thakor, a Johns Hopkins biomedical engineering professor who directed the work.