The human hand has 35 actuators or muscles for producing movement. 19 of which are inside the hand - responsible for fine movements like bringing the fingers together or pulling them apart. The other 16 are located outside the hand, but extend into it via tendons. These provide power for gripping and lifting. Scientists can reproduce at least some of the hand’s physical elements and capabilities. But the rub has been control. How do we convey to the prosthetic all the complicated movements behind a “simple” gesture like grasping? In the early 1960s, a Yugoslav scientist from the well-known Mihajlo Pupin Institute named Rajko Tomović looked to biology for a solution. He leveraged his findings to create arguably the first autonomous robotic hand. Certainly the first such five-fingered robotic hand. And it was capable of precision tasks that might surprise you. In today’s video, we profile a series of pioneering robotic prosthetics from Communist Yugoslavia: The Belgrade Hands.
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