Better than a human hand?

Complexity foils attempts at robotic hands

The human hand is incredibly complex, with 27 bones and many tiny muscles, not to mention great sensitivity to heat, pressure and texture. Building a robotic hand to match the capabilities of one of our own has proved an enormous and costly challenge.

Scientists have conventionally tried to replicate these traits in robots by copying the biological mechanics of the hand, resulting in complicated and hard-to-control structures. An alternative solution to these challenges was proposed in a new study, published by Wiley in Advanced Science: The BioflexBot, a novel robot that mimics and even exceeds core motions of the hand with a simple design.
 

Focusing on function rather than form

Instead of creating a robotic hand with the intricate anatomy of a human hand, the researchers aimed to capture fundamental hand motions with a coiled spring, constraining shell, and basic pneumatic system, using compressed air to control mechanical action. Optimised for precision and range of mobility, the BioflexBot can pinch, rotate, hook, and grasp with just two pneumatic inputs.
 

Capacity for delicate and powerful movements

The researchers demonstrated that the BioflexBot could replicate these foundational hand motions. To simulate pinching, the BioflexBot successfully manipulated an acupuncture needle and reliably transported liquid using a pipette, completing delicate tasks common in healthcare or laboratory settings.

It also rotated a bottle cap, rotating almost four times more than a human hand’s capability, and was able to hook objects such as a toolbox and goggles. Finally, they found that the unit could securely grasp objects of varying sizes, up to almost 13 times bigger than similar systems.
 

Performance better than a human hand

Beyond reliably mimicking traditional hand motions, the robot exceeds human hand performance, extending and contracting 3.5 times more than the human hand. So it can grasp complex objects, reach long distances, deliver objects in confined spaces and transport multiple objects sequentially. The researchers demonstrated three potential applications: inspecting aeroengine blades, completing daily tasks integrated with a humanoid robot, and conducting a chemistry experiment.

These findings suggest that the simple design of the BioflexBot can result in high dexterity at extremely low costs with applications across industries. Future work will translate the prototype to a fully automated platform.
 

Senior author Yingtian Li, PhD, currently of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, said:

“By harnessing structural and physical intelligence, we pursued a simple design capable of both cross-scale grasping and complex human-like manipulation. Unlike most robotic hands that replicate the human form, at high hardware and control costs, our approach focuses solely on mimicking the functions, not the shape.”

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Further reading and resources

You can read the full article in Advanced Science (external link will open in a new browser tab or window)

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