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tonyPick [soylentnews.org] writes:

IEEE Spectrum has an article on the interesting design of a new robotic hand [ieee.org] which attempts to replicate the structure of a real human hand as closely as possible to produce an impressive level of dexterity and functionality:

Because of the inherent complexity of a real human hand, biomimetic anthropomorphic hands inevitably involve lots of compromises to get them to work properly while maintaining a human-ish form factor. Zhe Xu and Emanuel Todorov from the University of Washington, in Seattle, have gone crazy and built the most detailed and kinematically accurate biomimetic anthropomorphic robotic hand that we’ve ever seen, with the ultimate goal of replacing human hands completely.

The accompanying Vimeo video [vimeo.com] demonstrates the hand in action, where the authors further explain that the hand:

closely mimics its human counterpart with artificial joint capsules, crocheted ligaments and tendons, laser-cut extensor hood, and elastic pulley mechanisms.

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