It's good to see they are still working on this simple artificial hand.

Another "OMG it's so obvious why didn't I think of that" invention. Really cool.

I, for one, welcome our new coffee-balloon overlords.

That's pretty clever, but I know for a fact that the smartest robotocists are working on a hand that can actually give a hand job.

Uh, you still dropped that egg, buttercoffeeballoon...

Even if you know nothing about robotics, you might be aware this has been on Fark already... twice. Once for this same video and then again when they improved the "hand's" functionality.

Sgygus: It's good to see they are still working on this simple artificial hand.

Considering many of the objects I've masturbated with I'm donating to their kickstarter.

Its nice to know that when the robots come to tear our faces off, they'll have a better grip thanks to SCIENCE!

It can grip, but it can't draw a square.

wjllope: It can grip, but it can't draw a square.

shiat, I have trouble free-hand drawing a square. Don't even get into a circle.

Related, with a simple explanation of jamming Link

/Creepy little ball

way south: Its nice to know that when the robots come to tear our faces off, they'll have a better grip thanks to SCIENCE!



Now, more than ever..

ProfessorOhki: Related, with a simple explanation of jamming Link

/Creepy little ball

Did someone say creepy little ball?

Link

do not taunt happy fun ball

Lets code a routine to pick up a dart and fling it! Then we simply place the dart board exactly where the darts land. Brilliant!

Great, now robots can beat me at HORSE, too. Gee, thanks science. *sneer*

marleymaniac: Lets code a routine to pick up a dart and fling it! Then we simply place the dart board exactly where the darts land. Brilliant!

Isn't that what humans do when they line up to shoot -- change the position of the board relative to their hand to make them more likely to hit the target?

johnsoninca: Uh, you still dropped that egg, buttercoffeeballoon...

I thought it did that so the roboticists could show that the egg was real and raw. A hardboiled egg or one carved out of wood and painted wouldn't have been nearly as impressive.

marleymaniac: Lets code a routine to pick up a dart and fling it! Then we simply place the dart board exactly where the darts land. Brilliant!

You must be loads of fun at parties.

/Know nothing about robotics
//does look like one of those "so simple I'm surprised we're the first to think of it" ideas.

Can't the robots just hire human beings to pick up stuff for them?

tillerman35: Can't the robots just hire human beings to pick up stuff for them?

They'll do the work that robots won't do.
- Vicente Fox

Vicente actually said "There is no doubt that Mexicans, filled with dignity, willingness and ability to work are doing jobs that not even blacks want to do there in the United States"... oh my

Pretty cool, but I still wonder how they'll make this work for some of the uses they envision. Seems like if it's picking up items like bolts that the threads will eventually cut through the balloon, or even worse for sharp edged objects, and while it may be cheap to replace the hand, and even if it's quick to replace, if it happens with enough frequency the labor costs of replacing it will add up. It'll need an extremely tough material that's still elastic enough to stretch in weird shapes and be vacuated over and over again without tearing either from repeated stress or any sharp ridges on the object.

way south: Its nice to know that when the robots come to tear our faces off, they'll have a better grip thanks to SCIENCE!

All it would take is a simple knife to cut the balloon, and the gripper would be useless. As a bonus, you could collect the coffee that falls out, and brew it.

Adalius: Pretty cool, but I still wonder how they'll make this work for some of the uses they envision. Seems like if it's picking up items like bolts that the threads will eventually cut through the balloon, or even worse for sharp edged objects, and while it may be cheap to replace the hand, and even if it's quick to replace, if it happens with enough frequency the labor costs of replacing it will add up. It'll need an extremely tough material that's still elastic enough to stretch in weird shapes and be vacuated over and over again without tearing either from repeated stress or any sharp ridges on the object.

*facepalm*
They won't make production units out of balloons and coffee. This is a proof of concept.

Egoy3k: Adalius: Pretty cool, but I still wonder how they'll make this work for some of the uses they envision. Seems like if it's picking up items like bolts that the threads will eventually cut through the balloon, or even worse for sharp edged objects, and while it may be cheap to replace the hand, and even if it's quick to replace, if it happens with enough frequency the labor costs of replacing it will add up. It'll need an extremely tough material that's still elastic enough to stretch in weird shapes and be vacuated over and over again without tearing either from repeated stress or any sharp ridges on the object.

*facepalm*
They won't make production units out of balloons and coffee. This is a proof of concept.

*facepalm*
No shiat. I'm not a moron. I'm saying there isn't a really super elastic high strength material that can done in that thickness reliably right now that isn't uber expensive and as they pointed out they're doing this to make a cheap alternative for the expensive multiple-hand styles used on current robots.

Cool band, but their bass player sucks.

Egoy3k: Adalius: Pretty cool, but I still wonder how they'll make this work for some of the uses they envision. Seems like if it's picking up items like bolts that the threads will eventually cut through the balloon, or even worse for sharp edged objects, and while it may be cheap to replace the hand, and even if it's quick to replace, if it happens with enough frequency the labor costs of replacing it will add up. It'll need an extremely tough material that's still elastic enough to stretch in weird shapes and be vacuated over and over again without tearing either from repeated stress or any sharp ridges on the object.

*facepalm*
They won't make production units out of balloons and coffee. This is a proof of concept.

Wow I need to learn to read before snaking it turns out you do know that and I was just being an ass.

I would say that advanced polymers could be found that would fit this bill pretty easily after all look at condoms, surgical gloves and the like and those are pretty low tech latex. Also depending on the object being picked up the material doesn't need to be all that flexible. Large chunky objects wouldn't need to a super flexible membrane. Also it would be pretty quick to change out a gripper. All you would need to do is disconnect a quick-connect air line and at most a couple of bolts for the the mechanical linkage. Hell you could even automate the gripper change procedure with another robot if you wanted.

My main beef is the safety factor here, you can't really guarantee the grip strength of this gripper reliably I wouldn't want people around if this was handling heavy or dangerous goods.

Wrathskellar: Cool band, but their bass player sucks.

Leave Rush out of this.

Egoy3k: Egoy3k:
I would say that advanced polymers could be found that would fit this bill pretty easily after all look at condoms, surgical gloves and the like and those are pretty low tech latex. Also depending on the object being picked up the material doesn't need to be all that flexible. Large chunky objects wouldn't need to a super flexible membrane. Also it would be pretty quick to change out a gripper. All you would need to do is disconnect a quick-connect air line and at most a couple of bolts for the the mechanical linkage. Hell you could even automate the gripper change procedure with another robot if you wanted.

My main beef is the safety factor here, you can't really guarantee the grip strength of this gripper reliably I wouldn't want people around if this was handling heavy or dangerous goods.

I install a lot of robotic arm assemblies in production plants and the most common (and thus best selling) grippers are the ones that can be used without having to spec them out because they can handle a wide range of things, so economically the best option for them would be to find an elastic polymer that can handle anything you throw at it without needing to change out for different products but that's where the issue comes in, if you want it to have a high durability to avoid being punctured or sliced, the price is going to increase as is the thickness. While latex technology has come a long way, even a pin or a slightly sharp edge can cut through both of them whistle quick and even if you made a 1/8" thick latex sheet, picking up 1" unfinished bolts will slice through it in less than 500 bolts (pick one up barehanded by the threads and see what it does to your skin pretty quick).

rumpelstiltskin: That's pretty clever, but I know for a fact that the smartest robotocists are working on a hand that can actually give a hand job.

You just need 2 of them.

peasandcarrots: johnsoninca: Uh, you still dropped that egg, buttercoffeeballoon...

I thought it did that so the roboticists could show that the egg was real and raw.

Well, you were wrong.

Adalius: While latex technology has come a long way, even a pin or a slightly sharp edge can cut through both of them whistle quick and even if you made a 1/8" thick latex sheet, picking up 1" unfinished bolts will slice through it in less than 500 bolts (pick one up barehanded by the threads and see what it does to your skin pretty quick).

I know what you are saying but why exactly would you want a robotic arm to pick up bolts anyway? It's neat that they showed it picking up washers and whatnot but really picking up 500 bolts and even orienting them properly is a task best left to hard automation anyway. This is a multipurpose installation for quick tool changes.

Imagine retooling an automotive assembly line. Currently you might need to change grippers if you start making a different model of car but the individual robots will still be picking up an engine block or a wheel just a differently shaped engine block or wheel. These grippers wouldn't need to be changed to accommodate a differently shaped engine block and they would have a membrane designed for the type of duty they can expect.

johnsoninca: peasandcarrots: johnsoninca: Uh, you still dropped that egg, buttercoffeeballoon...

I thought it did that so the roboticists could show that the egg was real and raw.

Well, you were wrong.

No I'm pretty sure it was intentional...if it fell involuntarily the "bag" would still be in a vaccuum state. But it's re-inflated on purpose to drop the egg.

This is the opposite of quicksand/liquefaction. Pretty cool.

Egoy3k: I know what you are saying but why exactly would you want a robotic arm to pick up bolts anyway? It's neat that they showed it picking up washers and whatnot but really picking up 500 bolts and even orienting them properly is a task best left to hard automation anyway. This is a multipurpose installation for quick tool changes.

Imagine retooling an automotive assembly line. Currently you might need to change grippers if you start making a different model of car but the individual robots will still be picking up an engine block or a wheel just a differently shaped engine block or wheel. These grippers wouldn't need to be changed to accommodate a differently shaped engine block and they would have a membrane designed for the type of duty they can expect.

A large number of robots in the motorcycle assembly plant I do a lot of work for pick up nothing but bolts. They grab them, align them into the various holes on the powertrain, and then a head with multiple torque wrenches drops down and tightens them all at once. Not all the bolts are the same size so the gripper had to be custom built with different slots and they have to have the bolts fed to it in a sliding rack head up. A single gripper like this could handle all of them with one assembly and with a small eye do it regardless of orientation which would be quite advantageous.

As for picking up different size/shape items, it's pretty common in automated part sorting. A small eye reads a profile, tells the robot which bin to put it into, and it whizzes along grabbing them off a small belt and stuffing them in bins. Last one we installed handles 26 'classes' of shapes utilizing a gripper bar that's a hemisphere with various cavities in it and suction to hold it in place based on which part of the hemisphere matches the part the eye saw. There's other ways of doing this, like self-sorting conveyors and what not, but for the space requirements they needed to do it.

All I'm saying is, as someone who works in all sorts of factories day in and day out and deals with these robots all the time, there's more variety than you think in what they handle, it certainly isn't as simple as 'this robot will pick up object x and only object x over and over'.

tillerman35: Can't the robots just hire human beings to pick up stuff for them?

They tried but it makes them seem stiff and phoney, expecially if they're running for president.

Meh. Wendell is more jaw dropping.

your challenge: to figure out how this robot works. Have fun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSoBfB 1G4ac

Nightmaretony: Meh. Wendell is more jaw dropping.

your challenge: to figure out how this robot works. Have fun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSoBfB 1G4ac

Heh, cute trick. Have one that actually does what Wendell pretends to: Link

/Not sure if more or less creepy though

Very impressive, but heaven help you if you're bluffing.

ProfessorOhki: Nightmaretony: Meh. Wendell is more jaw dropping.

your challenge: to figure out how this robot works. Have fun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSoBfB 1G4ac

Heh, cute trick. Have one that actually does what Wendell pretends to: Link

/Not sure if more or less creepy though


Very nice. Leave it to our favorite country that turns uncanny valley into a vacation resort to advance state of the technology like this.

Am I the only one that thinks a factory filled with robot arms throwing springs and bolts into poorly-lettered cardboard boxes sounds like a good investment?

That was my friday lol moment.

Looks like Doraemon wasn't so unrealistic and symbolic after all.

meanmutton: wjllope: It can grip, but it can't draw a square.

shiat, I have trouble free-hand drawing a square. Don't even get into a circle.

Then prepare to be jealous:

Link

thisisyourbrainonFark: meanmutton: wjllope: It can grip, but it can't draw a square.

shiat, I have trouble free-hand drawing a square. Don't even get into a circle.

Then prepare to be jealous:

Link

1:18 long, and the first 1:05 is just him cleaning the board.

thisisyourbrainonFark: meanmutton: wjllope: It can grip, but it can't draw a square.

shiat, I have trouble free-hand drawing a square. Don't even get into a circle.

Then prepare to be jealous:

Link

Very cool.

thisisyourbrainonFark: meanmutton: wjllope: It can grip, but it can't draw a square.

shiat, I have trouble free-hand drawing a square. Don't even get into a circle.

Then prepare to be jealous:

Link

Michelangelo and Giotto were both famous for drawing/painting perfect circles freehand. Got them both major papal commissions (Popes Julius II and Boniface VIII, respectively)... google "[name] perfect circle"... I had remembered that Michelangelo could do it, but when I googled that to check, I learned Giotto could also do it...

Those farks could draw! ..."It's life Jim, but not as we know it."

cheers

RoyBatty: Sgygus: It's good to see they are still working on this simple artificial hand.

Considering many of the objects I've masturbated with I'm donating to their kickstarter.

80 grit - bad idea

thisisyourbrainonFark: shiat, I have trouble free-hand drawing a square. Don't even get into a circle.

Then prepare to be jealous:

A circle? Big deal. How about Al Franken drawing the United States?

Link


/also, the robot was cool. Especially as it can't malfunction and crush the living crap out of your hand...

Adalius: Pretty cool, but I still wonder how they'll make this work for some of the uses they envision. Seems like if it's picking up items like bolts that the threads will eventually cut through the balloon, or even worse for sharp edged objects, and while it may be cheap to replace the hand, and even if it's quick to replace, if it happens with enough frequency the labor costs of replacing it will add up. It'll need an extremely tough material that's still elastic enough to stretch in weird shapes and be vacuated over and over again without tearing either from repeated stress or any sharp ridges on the object.

Hmmnn... Maybe they'll use silicone.

So, fruit picking is a no longer a proper career path?

I want to build one.

And you thought the Dalek with the sink plunger was stupid.