Smart Motor C6M Dextrous Hand

The Smart Motor C6M Dextrous Hand is one of the most advanced robot hands on the market. It won the 'ELRIG Technology Award' for best new technology at the 2009 European Laboratory Robotics Interest Group conference in Liverpool. An anthropomorphic design makes it possible to transfer manipulation strategies from a human directly to the manipulator. In comparison to other robot hands the fingers are exactly human size. The force and the position of each joint can be measured and delicately controlled so that even the manipulation of a filigree object is possible.
One important reason for the choice of a anthropoid hand is that the whole system can be tele-operated to handle unscheduled situations properly. If any malfunctions occur, or if any special tasks are required, a human laboratory assistant can control the robot hand with a data-glove that tracks the motion of the human hand with sensors. The position of the hand can be detected either optically or using specialized hardware. Complete systems mapping the motion of the human hand to the robot hand have already been developed by the Shadow Robot Company and are commercially available. Using such a system will increase the flexibility and reliability of the cabinet in many ways. If something goes wrong, the system could be used to perform recovery operations. An experiment that might have been aborted could be continued after a manual intervention.