Interesting!
Robots defy gravity. What?! True! Researchers at the University of Bristol successfully developed a four-finger robot hand with tactile fingertips, capable of rotating objects in all directions while maintaining its grasp. Named AnyRotate, the tactile robotic hand achieves “gravity-invariance”— it manipulates objects successfully, whether upright, upside-down, or in any other orientation. That’s an accomplishment that’s incredibly hard to achieve. Traditionally, robotics uses precise models of the robot and the environment to carefully plan and control the path. When a robot’s orientation changes, the models can’t adapt. The result: poor performance or failure. How is gravity-invariance achieved? Through a combo of tactile sensing 🖐️, adaptive control 🕹️, machine learning 🎡, and sim-to-real transfer 🤖. Look at the tactile fingertips created with 3D-printed mesh laced with papillae to mimic human skin. We’re one step closer to human-like dexterity, with all kinds of applications from manufacturing to recycling. https://lnkd.in/gZCfyJmE #Robotics #Manufacturing