E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSGM engineers show off a robotic glove that was inspired by their work with NASA on Robonaut 2.
The folks who brought you Robonaut have teamed up to create a robotic glove that can help factory workers and astronauts get a grip more easily for a longer time.
NASA and GM today unveiled the Human Grasp Assist device, also known as the K-Glove or Robo-Glove. The contraption is a spin-off of their Robonaut 2 project, which put a two-armed android torso with a camera-equipped head on the International Space Station last year.
The space agency and the automaker both say they're trying to turn the glove into a stress-saver. "When fully developed, the Robo-Glove has the potential to reduce the amount of force that an auto worker would need to exert when operating a tool for an extended time or with repetitive motions," Dana Komin, GM's manufacturing engineering director for global automation strategy and execution, said in a news release. "In so doing, it is expected to reduce the risk of repetitive stress injury."
Actuators are built into the fingers of the glove to provide grasping support for human fingers, under the control of touch sensors incorporated into the fingertips. When the glove's wearer grabs a tool, synthetic tendons automatically retract, pulling the fingers into a gripping position and holding them there until the sensor is released.
GM
The Robo-Glove weighs about 2 pounds, but GM plans to make it lighter.
The technology could make things easier for astronauts, who have to grip tools with bulky spacesuit gloves over and over during hours-long spacewalks. GM says an astronaut typically needs 15 to 20 pounds of gripping force to hold onto a tool, but the robo-glove could reduce that to 5 to 10 pounds of force. Trish Petete, division chief for the Crew and Thermal Systems Division at NASA's Johnson Space Center, said the technology "challenges our traditional thinking of what extravehicular activity hand dexterity could be."
The first prototype of the glove was built a year ago, and since then the design has gone through a round of tweaks. The current prototype weighs about 2 pounds (1 kilogram), which takes in the control electronics, the actuators and a small display for programming and diagnostics. The actuators are driven by an off-the-shelf lithium-ion power-tool battery that's worn on the belt.
Marty Linn, GM's principal engineer of robotics, told me that the company hasn't set a timetable for putting the robo-glove to work in a real-world environment. "As a matter of fact, we have not yet started the trials," he said.
He also acknowledged that the prototype device is a little too heavy for regular use on the factory floor. "We want to make it lighter and use less power," he said.
But once the technology is perfected, GM would like to license it for a variety of commercial applications here on Earth. The Robo-Glove could come in handy for construction workers who need to operate power tools for hours at a time, patients who need to rehabilitate cramped-up hands, firefighters who need to hang onto a fire hose ... and, of course, billionaires seeking superhero powers.
More robots in space:
- Robotic space 'gas attendant' touted
- Microbes may power up space robots
- NASA needs robot arms for satellite repairs
Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter or adding Cosmic Log's Google+ page to your circle.
Leave a Comment:
You will be assimilated. Restistance is futile. Love, Locutus....
Because we are a nation full of idiots, it will need a warning label as such:
Men, please disable or remove glove before urinating.
Nuff said. LOL
Mmm, one bit of information missing from this fairy tale, can you guess what it is?
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
How many millions of dollars did and will it cost the taxpayers, that would you and me and a dog name Blue.
I would rather see taxpayer dollars go toward this, a project that could someday benefit all of humanity, then to see more tax dollar get flushed on social programs that do nothing more then make people dependent on the government. I'd also rather see funding go to programs like this then to see the rich get more tax breaks.
I did ask Marty how much GM was spending on this, and he declined to say for competitive reasons. My guess is that NASA helped out with the technical aspect of this, but that their cost beyond the personnel (who are working on other robotics projects as well) would be minimal. Just a guess, though.
Burny, you are completely brainwashed if you believe that every thing NASA does is to benefit all of humanity ... wrong.
The only humanity it benefits, those work projects at NASA, are the small NASA empire. It is all about making huge mortgage payments for the deadbeats in NASA. You should pay a visit to their campuses and checkout the good life which your tax money supports.
Ad'm - Your ignorance on the value of NASA saddens me. Google NASA spinoffs and look at all the life changing technology that has come from NASA over the years.
It would be good thing if government agencies be forced to go through the Chapter 9 process when they fail, like private companies do. Then we can keep purging the bad apples before they get promoted and contaminate the whole place. Every freaking government agency is in ruins and is costing the taxpayers billions of dollars in wasteful services, literally burning money, annually.
NASA, is no different, the agency is completely contaminated, corrupt, who's top priority has become keeping it's lights on, begging for a stable annual budget. Instead of coming up with a good plan that will meet the planet's needs they play the good obedient child role and follow the incompetent Congressional directives and "fit" a plan to meet the annual budget. Wrong, very wrong.
If you don't have the balls to stand up to your principles then submit your resignation and move on. Don' milk the American people because your boss told you to.
For God and country ... Oorah.
It should be great news for handicap and disabled people too.
Didn't MJ (the gloved one) already have one of these?
also known as the K-Glove or Robo-Glove yes there's a letter missing (snickers)
potential to reduce the amount of force that an auto worker would need to exert when. Err never mind , gotta go dig my brain outta the gutter.
True, ... and another thing ... how will those auto workers pick their noses with this "contraption" on?
Fantastic! I assume this Robo-Glove operates much like the human hand, with actuators mounted on the Robo forearm which are linked to the glove fingers via cable "tendons". Congratulations! - RC
1 step closer to being able to build androids suitable for civilian and gov use , the uses here are countless , medical industries , automotive , space travel , domestic. whether its gripping a gun and trigger , holding a laser for surgery use or doing dishes in your home , it would have to have the ability to maintain the proper pressure for each of these items ,
Customers who bought this also viewed Jergens and Kleenex.
I guess this makes Gomez Addam's "Thing" obsolete. Will GM be using this to make their assembly workers work more hours?
Please feel free to actually go and read the article. Quoted directly from it:
In short, because it reduces repetitive stress injuries, it saves GM money.
...and makes union workers' already not-very-difficult $50/hour jobs even easier.
This is very interesting since we at Bioservo Technologies in Sweden have developed a glove that works in the exact same way. Our glove is a bit smoother and more light-weight than the above. And it is ready for shipping. Check out our SEM Glove at And yes, we have patented the our technology ;)
Similarities may end at the looks/idea though, the actual technologies may be very different.
Regardless, the concept could prove to be extremely useful in the near future.
Of everything they describes and what can be seen in the pictures It seems like the technology is very simular too. Only that we are a step ahead. We also had the power unit on the forearm in the previous model. But figured it to be rather silly to add extra weight on the users arms when the purpose was to ease the work with the hands. ;) And our glove can be weared with the batteries internal (not laying on the table beside) for about 8 h.
Could be the beginnings of useful robotic exoskeleton that will help in such industries as mining, oil and gas, heavy and durance lifting, military, but not space.
NASA would be taking the wrong direction if they implement this to the space suit. A better mission scenario to give the crew member easier task schedule and assistance from the robotic arms would be much more efficient and safer. To put more failure modes onto the already very complicated space suit would be the wrong direction.
Reduce the failure modes of any one indivisible component as much as possible and schedule the mission tasks accordingly.
This project will benefit all of humanity. Think of its use for people who are born without fingers or hands or even partial fingers and hands as well as those who may lose a hand to war or accidents. This new glove will solve their age old dilema of trying to be functional and normal again in the human society.
Just wait until the leg and arm version come out.
I know of a very attractive female that everyone will welcom having both of her legs not for our benefit of course but her own.
Just seeing her and hearing the whirr of the servo's turning and the actuators actuating is enough to drive a man crazy.
Without NASA and its useless facilities then such great innovations as the Robo Hand would never had made life better for those without hands, arms, legs, toes. etc. I also see the Robo Attire being introduced into war torn areas around the world so that those maimed by terrorist attacks will be able to once again function within humanity instead of sitting in the dark waiting like the black widow waits to strike at its next prey.