Swiss researchers create autonomous robotic hand that walks on fingers

Researchers at ETH Zurich in Switzerland have unveiled a disembodied robotic hand that can walk using its fingers, UPI reported on 30 October. The autonomous hand was created by a team at the institution's Soft Robotics Lab. [1]

The development team published video footage and a pre-print paper showing the robotic device in motion, according to UPI. Researchers compared the walking hand to Thing, the disembodied character from The Addams Family. [1]

Amirhossein Kazemipour, a doctoral candidate at the Soft Robotics Lab, stated that getting a robotic hand to walk without assistance is particularly challenging, UPI reported. Kazemipour noted that this ability to walk unaided makes the robot unique. [1]

A humanoid robot is designed to resemble the human body in shape. These robots are built for functional goals such as interacting with human tools, working alongside people, or studying experimental bipedal locomotion. [2]