AMAZING ROBOTIC HAND ACCURATELY TYPES 20 WORDS PER MINUTE

Robot hands have been grabbing, crushing, drawing and otherwise actuating for years, but have you ever seen one properly type? That's the primary purpose of a new Virginia Tech design. Engineers built this Dexterous Anthropomorphic Robotic Typing (DART) hand to mimic the real deal as best they could, down to individually-actuating three-segment digits and 110 degrees of wrist rotation in a package the size of a real human arm. Using a total of 19 servo motors and high tensile strength wire for the tendons, they managed to create a single mechanical paw that can achieve an estimated 20 words per minute while typing. Next, they plan to cover it in silicone skin and add piezoelectric sensors to provide tactile feedback

NEW BRAIN CONTROLLED ROBOTIC ARM PROSTHETIC HITS FDA

The FDA has just announced a new "Innovation Pathway" program that promises to allow for priority reviews of "truly pioneering technologies," which could potentially cut the approval process time in half. Somewhat ironically, however, that program itself will first need some further review before it's broadly deployed, but the FDA has already kicked things off on a limited basis with its first submission: a brain-controlled robotic arm from DARPA. It's not clear which arm that is, but it sounds a lot like the now-famous "Luke" arm (pictured above) developed by Dean Kamen's Deka organization, which just so happens to be funded by DARPA