Houston Daily

Researchers from the University of Houston are collaborating with teams from Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to develop advanced robotic hands. The project, called Altus Dexterity, aims to create robotic hands that combine strength, softness, and dexterity by drawing on studies of human hand function.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is supporting this effort through its Bio-Inspired Design Innovations track, which is part of the Convergence Accelerator program under the Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships. NSF has committed up to $5 million in additional funding for Altus Dexterity to further develop these robotic hand designs and test them in real-world pilot projects.

Nancy Pollard, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute and Computer Science Department and a member of Altus Dexterity, explained the team's approach: “Our solution is a bio-inspired robotic hand that combines softness with strength, and all over sensing with dexterity.”

At the University of Houston (UH), Alamgir Karim—Dow Chair and Welch Foundation Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering—is leading efforts to integrate polymers into the structure so that the fingers can move. Karim described his team’s work: “Our polymers need to be integrated with that structure so that they do actuation. Polymers can be designed with functionality, with adhesive property, thermal property and electrical property to have that level of dexterity that we need.”

The UH team is developing hybrid polymeric materials capable of retracting or relaxing when exposed to low electric fields below 10 volts. According to Karim: “The technical idea here is that the artificial fingers need to retract like unfolding and perform other motions like flexion (including abduction and adduction for thumb movement) from their gripping positions. UH technology will enable these in the artificial hands using the electrically responsive hybrid polymer actuation systems developed by our team.”

Altus Dexterity’s research addresses challenges faced by industries such as health care, agriculture, manufacturing, as well as improving prosthetics for individuals living with upper limb loss or limited mobility. The United States faces labor shortages projected to impact over $450 billion in GDP by 2028; automation technologies like these could help address those gaps.

More information about Altus Dexterity's work can be found at Bio-Inspired Robot Hands : NSF Convergence Accelerator Team Altus Dexterity.