Engineers have developed a pioneering prosthetic hand that can grip plush toys, water bottles, and other everyday objects like a human, carefully conforming and adjusting its grasp to avoid damaging or mishandling whatever it holds.

The system’s hybrid design is a first for robotic hands, which have typically been too rigid or too soft to replicate a human’s touch when handling objects of varying textures and materials. The innovation offers a promising solution for people with hand loss and could improve how robotic arms interact with their environment.

The device features a multifinger system with rubberlike polymers and a rigid 3D printed internal skeleton. Its three layers of tactile sensors, inspired by the layers of human skin, allow it to grasp and distinguish objects of various shapes and surface textures, rather than just detect touch. Each of its soft air-filled finger joints can be controlled with the forearm’s muscles, and machine learning algorithms focus the signals from the artificial touch receptors to create a realistic sense of touch. (Image credit: Johns Hopkins University)

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Topics:
Implants & Prosthetics Medical Robotics

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    This article first appeared in the April, 2025 issue of Medical Design Briefs Magazine (Vol. 15 No. 4).

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