I read this recently. Researchers at MIT just built a wristband that lets you control a robotic hand with your bare fingers. No gloves or implants needed. Just a smartwatch sized device on your wrist.
Here's how it works. The band uses ultrasound stickers to image the muscles and tendons beneath your skin in real time. An AI algorithm reads those internal shifts and maps them to 22 degrees of freedom across your fingers and palm. Your tendons literally act like puppet strings. The wristband reads the strings. The robot mirrors the hand. In demos, volunteers used it to play piano tunes and shoot basketballs, through a robotic hand, wirelessly. It even decoded 26 American Sign Language signs accurately.
This wristband could generate massive training data for teaching robots dexterous, human-like movements. For VR/AR, hand-tracking cameras are not needed. A wristband that sees inside your wrist is more accurate, more portable and harder to fool.
The paper was published this week in Nature Electronics
.Radhe Radhe 💛
Footnotes
[1] Wristband enables wearers to control a robotic hand with their own movements