Silicone used for soft-grip robotic hand

ERJ staff report (DS)

Boston, Massachussets -- Researchers have developed a robotic hand which uses silicone rubber powered by water pressure. As the water is pumped in and out, silicone rubber leaves curl up and then relax to grip and then release fragile components.

George Whitesides and his team at Harvard University described the approach in an article titled Soft Robotics for Chemists published in Angewandte Chemie's online edition dated 20 January

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