🤖ETH Zurich Turns Hand Into Self-Propelled Robot
A robotic hand that walks on its fingertips
TL;DR
ETH Zurich researchers turned an off-the-shelf robotic hand into a walking robot, capable of crawling on fingertips. Useful for maintenance and search and rescue, it can operate on 14 surfaces and push objects up to 40 cm away.
ETH Zurich researchers have transformed an off-the-shelf robotic hand into a self-contained robot that walks on its fingertips. This innovative design allows the hand to manipulate its environment and perform tasks like pushing objects and pressing keys autonomously. The hand's unique geometry and reinforcement learning training make it versatile for industrial maintenance and search and rescue operations. It can operate on 14 different surfaces and push a 41-gram cube up to 40 cm away 15 times in a row, showcasing its adaptability and precision.
Key Points
ETH Zurich's robotic hand can walk on fingertips, trained using reinforcement learning in simulation.
The hand can right itself in 21 of 25 trials, demonstrating its stability and adaptability.
It can autonomously push a 41-gram cube to targets up to 40 cm away 15 times in a row.
The hand can move at an average speed of 9 centimeters per second on 14 different surfaces.
The onboard computer fits all four trained models, enabling versatile manipulation and traversal.
Why It Matters
If you're working on industrial maintenance or search and rescue robots, ETH Zurich's self-propelled robotic hand is a game-changer. It can operate on 14 different surfaces and push objects up to 40 cm away autonomously. This technology could revolutionize how we approach confined space exploration and delicate maintenance tasks.
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