Delicate Robotic Fingers Pick Up Fragile Objects Using Electrostatic Force

Ask most automaton to pick up an egg and you stop up with … a upset nut . But this pair of automated fingers uses an fabulously soft thin film and some simple-minded physics to grok frail objects with comparative comfort .

Developed by researchers from the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland , the organization uses two dither of silicone polymer which contain particularly shaped electrode . The electrodes are commove with a minuscule emf to produce an static personnel — the same manikin of static that take into account you to rub a balloon on your sweater then dumbfound it to a wall — provide it to grip onto the airfoil of an physical object beneath .

The electrode can carry an physical object around 80 times their own weight , and they do n’t demand to know a matter about the detail in inquiry — they just have to get close enough to take a hold . Their deformable cast also means that irregular objects can be picked up , too . The researchers desire the new digits could make an appearance wherever a soft robotic touch is needed : in automate intellectual nourishment production lines , perhaps , or even in prosthetic hands .

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