"Human-like" K-Robot Hand Gains Global Attention

DGIST Research Team's 2021 Developed Robotic Hand
Adorns Cover of 10th Anniversary Issue of Leading Robotics Journal

A 'human-like' robotic hand developed by Korean scientists has attracted global attention.

Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST) announced on the 14th that the core technology research of the ‘Robot Hand’ developed by the research team led by Professor Dongwon Yoon of the Department of Robotics and Mechanical Engineering, which is as precise and flexible as a human hand, has graced the cover of the 10th anniversary issue of the world-renowned international robotics journal ‘Soft Robotics’.

The research team developed a ‘Robot Hand’ capable of precise movements and gripping like a human hand by arranging two pairs of flexible hinges in an X shape in 2021. Robot hands are mainly used for advanced tasks such as gripping or assembling objects of various shapes and stiffness in various industrial fields. For such precise robotic hand operation, rolling bearing-based ball bearing rotary joints are mainly used, but they are expensive, difficult to assemble, prone to failure from external shocks, and can damage objects, leading to the development of various flexible joints as alternatives.

To reinforce the weak stiffness of existing flexible structure robot hands, the research team applied four flexible hinges per finger joint, shaped to fit the joint, arranged in two pairs crossing in an X shape. They demonstrated that it absorbs 46.7% more impact than conventional bearing-based robot hands. They also confirmed that it can grip various irregularly shaped objects. The limitation of soft hand robots, which could not lift heavy weights, was overcome by lifting up to 4 kg.

The cover paper is selected for its influential research achievements and is an official recognition of the excellence of the research results. This issue is especially meaningful as it is the 10th anniversary publication of Soft Robotics.

Professor Yoon said, "We are very pleased to have been selected for the cover paper of the 10th anniversary issue of the top journal in the soft robotics field among excellent research results worldwide,” and added, “We are currently working to commercialize this technology in industrial sites and service robot fields.”

This research result was published online in the Soft Robotics journal in 2021 and officially published last year.