Symmetrical Robotic Hand Enables Spiderlike Grasping

Aude Billard and colleagues at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology have developed a prototype robotic hand that detaches from a robotic arm and transforms into a spider-like crawler to pick up objects and reattach. Its symmetrical five- and six-finger designs let any two fingers act as opposing thumbs, enabling simultaneous multi-object grasping, backward bending, and access to confined spaces, suggesting applications in inspection, disaster response, and prosthetics.