This 3D Printed Robot Can Pick Up Even Your Most Fragile Mess
A Soft Touch MIT/CSAIL Robotic hands aren't typically known for being delicate or spontaneous. They're more likely to be part of an assembly line, or specifically designed to do one task perfectly, over and over. But those days may be waning. A new robotic hand printed out of silicone by MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) can pick up just about any object, no matter how delicate or strangely sized. The results were released today, and really, it can pick up any small object: The variety is incredibly important. “If we want robots in human-centered environments, they need to be more adaptive and able to interact with objects whose shape and placement are not precisely known,” Daniela Rus, CSAIL's director said in a statement. “Our dream is to develop a...