Browse Topic: Hand
One of the biggest goals for companies in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) is developing “agentic” systems. These metaphorical agents can perform tasks without a guiding human hand. This parallels the goals of the emerging urban air mobility industry, which hopes to bring autonomous flying vehicles to cities around the world. One company wants to do both and got a head start with some help from NASA.
A team of engineers has developed a low-cost, durable, highly-sensitive robotic ‘skin’ that can be added to robotic hands like a glove, enabling robots to detect information about their surroundings in a way that’s similar to humans.
Innovators at NASA Johnson Space Center have developed a programmable steering wheel called the Tri-Rotor, which allows an astronaut the ability to easily operate a vehicle on the surface of a planet or moon despite the limited dexterity of their spacesuit. This technology was originally conceived for the operation of a lunar terrain vehicle (LTV) to improve upon previous Apollo-era hand controllers. In re-evaluating the kinematics of the spacesuit, such as the rotatable wrist joint and the constant volume shoulder joint, engineers developed an enhanced and programmable hand controller that became the Tri-Rotor.
Engineers have developed a pioneering prosthetic hand that can grip plush toys, water bottles, and other everyday objects like a human, carefully conforming and adjusting its grasp to avoid damaging or mishandling whatever it holds.
Researchers have succeeded in adding finger straightening or extension to soft rehabilitation gloves through a novel foldable pouch actuator (FPA) without compromising the already existing functionality of finger bending or flexion.
Road safety remains a critical concern globally, with millions of lives lost annually due to road accidents. In India alone, the year 2021 witnessed over 4,12,432 road accidents resulting in 1,53,972 fatalities and 3,84,448 injuries. The age group most affected by these accidents is 18-45 years, constituting approximately 67% of total deaths. Factors such as speeding, distracted driving, and neglect to use safety gear increases the severity of these incidents. This paper presents a novel approach to address these challenges by introducing a driver safety system aimed at promoting good driving etiquette and mitigating distractions and fatigue. Leveraging Raspberry Pi and computer vision techniques, the system monitors driver behavior in real-time, including head position, eye blinks, mouth opening and closing, hand position, and internal audio levels to detect signs of distraction and drowsiness. The system operates in both passive and active modes, providing alerts and alarms to the driver while also implementing a negative reinforcement mechanism. Through a negative reinforcement system which consists of not starting the car if the driver is distracted and sleepy in the previous trip, hence discourages distracted or drowsy driving behavior. Various methods for detecting the driver drowsiness have been experimented with. The one with the highest accuracy were used in the system. By providing real-time feedback and implementing a proactive deterrent, the system aims to promote safer driving practices and contribute to enhancing road safety. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed system in identifying and reducing driver distractions and fatigue, thus contributing to a reduction in the number of accidents.
A new groundbreaking “smart glove” is capable of tracking the hand and finger movements of stroke victims during rehabilitation exercises. The glove incorporates a sophisticated network of highly sensitive sensor yarns and pressure sensors that are woven into a comfortable stretchy fabric, enabling it to track, capture, and wirelessly transmit even the smallest hand and finger movements.
A research paper by scientists at the University of Coimbra proposed a soft robotic hand comprising soft actuator cores and an exoskeleton, featuring a multimaterial design aided by finite element analysis to define the hand geometry and promote finger’s bendability. The new research paper, published on August 8 in the journal Cyborg and Bionic Systems, presented the development, fabrication, and control of a bioinspired soft robotic hand and demonstrated finite element analysis can serve as a valuable tool to support the design and control of the hand’s fingers.
Innovators at NASA Johnson Space Center have developed a programmable steering wheel called the Tri-Rotor, which allows an astronaut the ability to easily operate a vehicle on the surface of a planet or Moon despite the limited dexterity of their spacesuit. This technology was originally conceived for the operation of a lunar terrain vehicle (LTV) to improve upon previous Apolloera hand controllers. In re-evaluating the kinematics of the spacesuit, such as the rotatable wrist joint and the constant volume shoulder joint, engineers developed an enhanced and programmable hand controller that became the Tri-Rotor.
An assistive planar robot includes a cutting-edge closed-loop feedback system to monitor the muscle and brain activity of the user in order to trigger the execution of reach and grab in an adaptive way.
Crew Station design in the physical realm is complex and expensive due to the cost of fabrication and the time required to reconfigure necessary hardware to conduct studies for human factors and optimization of space claim. However, recent advances in Virtual Reality (VR) and hand tracking technologies have enabled a paradigm shift to the process. The Ground Vehicle System Center has developed an innovative approach using VR technologies to enable a trade space exploration capability which provides crews the ability to place touchscreens and switch panels as desired, then lock them into place to perform a fully recorded simulation of operating the vehicle through a virtual terrain, maneuvering through firing points and engaging moving and static targets during virtual night and day missions with simulated sensor effects for infrared and night vision. Human factors are explored and studied using hand tracking which enables operators to check reach by interacting with virtual components like flipping switches and with virtual touchscreens. This activity facilitates acquisition because it enables technology assessments and optimizations for human factors in a cost effective and time efficient manner.
Grasping objects of different sizes, shapes and textures is a problem that is easy for a human, but challenging for a robot. Researchers from the University of Cambridge designed a soft, 3D-printed robotic hand that cannot independently move its fingers but can still carry out a range of complex movements.
Inspired by the human finger, MIT researchers have developed a robotic hand that uses high-resolution touch sensing to accurately identify an object after grasping it just one time.
The purpose of this document is to provide the user with the procedures needed to properly assemble and disassemble the 50th percentile male Hybrid III dummy, certify its components and verify its mass and dimensions. Also within this manual are guidelines for handling accelerometers, repairing flesh and setting joints.
It’s no coincidence that our most complex, versatile, and useful body part, the human hand, is also among the most prone to injury. “The human hand and forearm are a marvel of capability for its size,” said Jonathan Rogers, a mechanical design engineer at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. So, it’s no surprise that one of the biggest obstacles to creating the first robot astronaut to fly in space was building its hands.
A new method that improves control of robotic hands — in particular, for amputees — combines individual finger control and automation for improved grasping and manipulation. The technology merges two concepts from two different fields. One concept, from neuroengineering, involves deciphering intended finger movement from muscular activity on the amputee’s stump for individual finger control of the prosthetic hand. The other, from robotics, allows the robotic hand to help take hold of objects and maintain contact with them for robust grasping.
Researchers have designed a wrist-mounted device that continuously tracks the entire human hand in 3D. The bracelet, called FingerTrak, can sense and translate into 3D the many positions of the human hand, including 20 finger joint positions, using three or four miniature, low-resolution thermal cameras that read contours on the wrist. The device could be used in sign language translation, virtual reality, mobile health, human-robot interaction, and other areas.
Each human fingertip has more than 3,000 touch receptors that largely respond to pressure. Humans rely heavily on sensation in their fingertips when manipulating an object, so the lack of this sensation presents a unique challenge for individuals with upper limb amputations. While there are several dexterous prosthetics available today, they all lack the sensation of “touch.” The absence of this sensory feedback results in objects inadvertently being dropped or crushed by a prosthetic hand.
A new device can recognize hand gestures based on electrical signals detected in the forearm. The system, which couples wearable biosensors with artificial intelligence (AI), could one day be used to control prosthetics or to interact with almost any type of electronic device. Reading hand gestures is one way of improving human-computer interaction. And while there are other ways of doing that, this solution also maintains an individual’s privacy.
Researchers have developed “electronic skin” sensors capable of mimicking the dynamic process of human motion. They attempted to imitate the biological and dynamic process of the skin of the human hand to enable objects to behave similarly.
As vehicles with SAE level 2 of autonomy become more widely deployed, they still rely on the human driver to monitor the driving task and take control during emergencies. It is therefore necessary to examine the Human Factors affecting a driver’s ability to recognize and execute a steering or pedal action in response to a dangerous situation when the autonomous system abruptly requests human intervention. This research used a driving simulator to introduce the concept of level 2 autonomy to a cohort of 60 drivers (male: 48%, female: 52%) of different age groups (teens 16 to 19: 32%, adults: 35 to 54: 37%, seniors 65+: 32%). Participants were surveyed for their perspectives on self-driving vehicles. They were then assessed on a driving simulator that mimicked SAE level 2 of autonomy. Participants’ interaction with the HMI was studied. A real-life scenario was programmed so that a request to intervene was issued when automation reached its boundaries while navigating a two-way curve road (TTC = 2.2 seconds). We found that at the time of the event, only 12% of participants kept their hands on the steering wheel. Only 64% of participants had their foot close to pedals. All participants who reacted within 0.65 seconds were able to avoid the crash. All participants who reacted after 0.9 seconds crashed. As a last construct, we looked at age and gender to understand how different participants behaved while vehicle automation was engaged.
Robots have replicated much of the human sensory experience on Mars. Cameras have given us sight; robotic hands, arms, and feet have supplied touch; and chemical and mineral sensors have let us taste and smell on Mars. Hearing is the last of the five senses yet to be exercised on the Red Planet.
Currently automotive industry is facing bi-fold challenge of reduction in greenhouse gases emissions as well as low operating cost. On one hand Emission regulations are getting more and more stringent on other hand there is major focus on customer value proposition. In engine emission the blow by gases are one of the source of greenhouse gases from engine. Blow-by gases not only consist of unburnt hydrocarbons but also carry large amount of oil. If oil is not separated from these gases, it will led to major oil consumption and hence increase total operating cost of Vehicle. Considering the above challenges, effort taken to develop a low-cost closed crankcase ventilation with oil mist separation system on diesel engine. For cost-effective solution, two different design and configuration of oil mist separation system developed. Further, engine with two different above said configuration has been tested for blow-by gasses and oil consumption measurement on Engine test bed and vehicle to understand the behavior in real environment. Further results compared for both configuration and further actions proposed.
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