Transcript

So this is Obi-Wan Kenobi.

He's a Netherlands dwarf rabbit.

With the sensorized hand it's a lot easier

to manipulate the wing of the duck,

and be confident that I'm not hurting it.

On screen you can basically see

what the sensors are picking up.

Imagine robot fingers that can actually feel.

They can feel textures, temperatures, and vibrations.

Sounds like science fiction, but it's real.

For years, we have been developing machines

designed to mimic human tasks and behaviors

with ever-increasing levels of success.

We now have machines to harvest our food,

vacuum our floors, and even drive our cars.

But what about one of the most fundamental elements

that makes us human?

What about a robotic hand that can feel?

I myself am a congenital amputee,

which means I was born with one hand.

In elementary school I had a giant metal hook,

and it was just big, shiny, and silver,

and it opens like this.

It was basically a giant pirate hook

like Captain Hook wears.

As I grew older, I definitely found myself

being a lot more shy about it.

I would always find a reason to take it off.

My whole idea of the ideal prosthetic hand

is one where you don't realize you're wearing

a prosthetic hand, and it just functions as a hand.

A robotic finger would be very helpful specifically for me

just because it would make my prosthetic hand,

which is essentially a dummy hand,

it would just make it smarter and intuitive.

The BioTac is a biomimetic tactile sensor

modeled after the human fingertip.

It's capable of sensing everything

that your finger can detect.

So the reason we want the biomimetic design

is just an appreciation for nature.

The human hand represents billions of years of evolution,

and that's something that needs to be recreated

synthetically in order to mimic the sense of touch.

The BioTac fingertips are equipped

with human-like fingernails because your nails are key

in sensing the tangential forces

applied to the surface of your finger pads.

Fingerprints also play an essential in tactile sensations

by enhancing vibrations as they slide

over different textures.

There's also a bone-like core

and an inflated skin that gives it a compliance

and deformation similar to a human fingertip.

When you're using a prosthetic hand,

as opposed to a normal hand, you have to pay attention

to the amount of force you're applying to any object.

With contact detection, it allows you to pay

significantly less attention to manipulating fragile objects

like an egg, than with non-sensorized prosthetic hand.

With eggs, it's just nice to know

you're not gonna crack 'em.

It would take me so much longer to multitask

when cooking eggs than I just did.

It's just way more convenient.

It's gonna make using the prosthetic hand I have now

easier and more intuitive.

It's basically gonna allow me to move through my day

quicker and faster, and more like someone who has two hands.

When Vikram is making an omelet,

it's not like he's doing something impossible

for somebody with a simple, mechanical prosthesis.

The difference is that he can actually enjoy it,

because his hand has reflexes, and can act on its own

just like our biological hands do.

With each new sense we learn to engineer,

we come closer to robotics that can truly recreate

the human experience.

(pleasant music)

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