It seems the creators of "The Addams Family" were not just dreamers, but genuine predictors of the future!
Remember Thing — the famous living hand that ran around the house on its own, helped members of the family, delivered messages, and found itself in the most incredible situations?
Well then, Swiss scientists have created a practically real version of it!
Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich) have presented a robotic hand that can move independently on its five fingers, overcome obstacles, get up after falling, and even use a keyboard (30 October — UPI publication..
And the most interesting part — for all of this it needs neither legs, nor a body, nor even the robotic arm to which it is supposed to be attached!
One hand. Five fingers. And its own plans for life! 😂
A hand that decided to go for a walk on its own
The development was carried out by researchers at the Soft Robotics Lab under the leadership of Robert Katzschmann.
The project was named Fingers as Legs — "Fingers Instead of Legs."
At first glance, the idea looks completely crazy: take an ordinary robotic hand and teach it to use its fingers not only for grasping objects, but also for moving independently.
However, it turned out that doing this is far more difficult than it seems.
After all, the fingers of a human hand have different lengths, and the thumb is positioned at a special angle altogether.
When the robot tries to take a step with one finger, the others must maintain balance.
Otherwise the whole structure simply falls over.
That is why the scientists decided to turn to artificial intelligence for help.
Instead of manually programming every movement, the researchers created a computer simulation in which the robot repeatedly learned to move by trial and error.
Gradually, the AI mastered the necessary movements and learned to coordinate all five fingers.
And then the acquired skills were transferred to a real mechanical hand.
And off it went!
It strolls over grass, stones, and even asphalt!
The unusual robot weighs only 818 grams, including the battery and the built-in computer.
At the same time, it is equipped with twenty controllable joints.
Tests have shown that the mechanical hand is capable of moving independently across 14 different surfaces.
Among them are grass, gravel, asphalt, wooden flooring, tiles, and metal grates.
On a flat surface, the robot can reach a speed of about 9 centimeters per second.
Of course, it is far from Olympic records.
But admit it, for a hand that has no legs, the result is quite impressive!
Imagine you are calmly walking through a park, and a human hand comes running toward you along the path all by itself.
And it is completely unclear what to do.
Say hello?
Shake its hand?
Or call the police immediately? 🤣
It fell? No problem — it will get up on its own!
But the ability to move is far from the only talent of the mechanical Thing.
The researchers taught it to recover on its own after falls.
If the robot flips over or loses its balance, it can use its fingers to right itself again.
During the tests, the mechanical hand successfully got up after a fall in 21 out of 25 cases.
That is, the probability of a successful recovery in these tests was 84%.
And this is especially interesting from a technical point of view.
After all, for robots that have to work in complex environments, the ability to get up on their own after falls is extremely important.
Now imagine the home version.
You accidentally knock the mechanical hand off the table.
It falls.
It gets up.
It looks at you — as much as a hand without eyes can look at anyone.
And pointedly walks off into another room.
It seems that in the future even household appliances will be able to take offense at their owners! 😂
And it can also type and play computer games!
The researchers decided to check whether the robot could use its fingers simultaneously for moving and for performing other tasks.
And the result turned out to be unexpectedly successful.
The mechanical hand learned to press keys on a computer keyboard.
Moreover, during this operation some of the fingers hold the robot's body while the others make the necessary movements.
In the demonstration, the robot sequentially presses keys, controlling the simplest computer game Sokoban, in which you need to move objects.
True, for now the hand cannot see the screen or choose a strategy on its own. An operator gives it commands.
But the very fact is impressive: the hand stands on its own fingers and uses a keyboard at the same time!
In addition, it is capable of pushing small objects in a given direction.
Thus, the same fingers perform several functions at once.
The robot walks on its own, presses buttons and moves things around.
All that is left is to teach it to wash the dishes, fold the laundry and turn off the alarm clock.
Though with the last one, perhaps, it is worth being more careful.
Imagine that in the morning this hand independently approaches your bed and starts insistently tapping its fingers on the pillow!
Why did the scientists need such a strange contraption?
Behind the outwardly amusing experiment lies a very serious idea.
In the future, such devices could be used in places where ordinary robots simply cannot reach.
For example, inside complex industrial equipment, in narrow technical spaces or during search-and-rescue operations.
A large robot cannot always get to the right button, handle or mechanism.
But a small, self-sufficient hand could potentially get inside, perform the necessary operation and return.
The head of the research, Robert Katzschmann, notes that such developments allow us to look at the design of robots in a new way.
It is not necessary to create separate legs for movement and separate arms for work.
Why not teach one and the same mechanism to perform several tasks at once?
In the long run, this could lead to the emergence of completely new robotic assistants.
Though for now this is an experimental technology, not a ready-made device for the home.
The Addams Family has once again turned out to be ahead of its time!
The funniest thing is that the researchers make no secret at all of the resemblance between their invention and Thing from The Addams Family.
In the official ETH Zurich video, the mechanical hand crawls through corridors, moves across piano keys and explores the surrounding space.
It makes for an almost ready-made scene for a new season of Wednesday.
Only instead of magic there is artificial intelligence, servo drives, a battery and twenty mechanical joints.
And yet the invention has one important difference from its television original.
Thing from the series has a character of its own, can communicate through gestures and shows incredible devotion to its friends.
For now, the Swiss robotic hand performs only the actions it has mastered, under the control of the corresponding algorithms and an operator.
But who knows what will happen in ten years?
Maybe we really will start buying such hands to help with the housework.
Just imagine.
You are sitting on the sofa watching a film.
A mechanical hand runs across the floor.
Climbs onto the coffee table.
Picks up the remote.
Changes the channel.
And then heads off to the kitchen.
And a minute later comes back with cookies.
The only question left open is this: who will go looking for this hand if it somehow goes missing? 😂
Especially if it learns to hide under the sofa.
Or takes offence and moves in with the neighbours.
In short, The Addams Family is gradually turning from a fantasy comedy into a documentary about the future of robotics! 👋🤣
