The Dexterous Anthropomorphic Robotic Typing Hand, DART Hand, developed at Virginia Tech has demonstrated the ability to type 20 words per minute, and two in tandem can handle 30 words. Researcher Nicholas Thyer and Shashank Priya want to gear their robotic hand towards helping the elderly with various tasks, such as typing, reaching, grasping objects. The DART can mimic the human hand's 40 muscles with 19 servo motors. The construction of the hand came from rapid prototyping techniques, making the build time quite small. And eventually this hand will be covered with human like skin. Each finger is controlled independently. No mention of the optical feedback system though. As I struggle with RSI and possible carpal tunnel, I can't help but fantasize these hands typing for me. Good luck team, I want to see these soon!
Eavesdropper
Picture and video courtesy of Nicholas Thyer and Shashank Priya
