Gizmodo: Hands

Robotic Hand May Be Tiny, Has Strong Grip

AddyDugdale — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Scientists have developed a pair of robotic hands that are both strong and sensitive. The tweezers can guide themselves to pick up and move individual cells without damaging them, and have a grip that can be as slight as 20 nanoNewtons of force. In fact, so advanced are the little grippers, that they can be hitched up to a microscope and, with the right software, function without human control. More below.

The tweezers were developed by a team from the University of Toronto, and use basic robotic concepts, but on a microscopic scale. What is so extraordinary about them, however, is that they can sense when they are getting close to things, such as surfaces or cells, and so avoid collisions. The tweezers are also aware of the strength of their grip. Manipulated by the software, they can get into position much faster than they could if they were controlled by a person.

The tweezers are just three millimeters long, and their tips just ten micrometers wide. Expect to see them being used in tissue engineering or for creating nano- and microscale devices. [NewScientist]

Intel's Robot Arms Look With Their Eyes, Not With Their Hands

Jason Chen — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 16:00:02 EDT

The problem with robot claws and hands is that they really don't know how hard to grip an object unless they're either pre-programmed or they test out the hardness themselves. The latter isn't a great idea if the object is, say, your arm, so Intel's invented a process to scan the object beforehand with sensors to determine its conductive properties. This in turns lets arms estimate how tough an item is before coming in contact with it, which is great news for the development of sexy robot mistresses that won't crush your junk. [Technology Review via The Raw Feed]

Hands On: iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store

Adrian Covert — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 22:11:30 EDT

Video By Richard Blakeley.
One new feature that came with the announcement of the iPod touch was the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store. Aside from the limited interaction we had with it at the Apple event on September 5, we got our first real crack at it today. All in all, it's pretty great, but there are a few things that make us shake our head.

The Good:
Overall, this thing is great. The interface is responsive, songs download as fast as the normal iTunes store and the Wi-Fi store is designed in a clean and logical manner. It is easy to move through the interface and find what you're looking for. The store is organized into for basic categories—Featured, Top Tens, Search, and Downloads.

Featured has New Releases, What's Hot, and Genres as subcategory. The screens in each subcategory are simple to figure out. Two artists are prominently featured at the top (custom graphics), with 10 other artists/albums below. For albums that have them, the average score for user reviews is also displayed. Very Nice.

Top Tens stays pretty true to form and display the top ten songs and albums in various categories and genres. One nice feature here is that if you're unimpressed by a particular top ten category, you can click a link that keeps adding ten albums at a time to the list.

Search is a standout highlight of the Wi-Fi store. When you enter the search menu, the keyboard comes up and allows you to enter a search string. As you type, it narrows down your search in real time. At any point while typing you can scroll through the list of artists or albums or songs and find what you're looking for. I actually like this better than searching in the normal iTunes store.

Downloads are self-explanatory. When you elect to purchase an album, the songs appear here and keep you updated on its status. When the song finishes downloading, it is automatically transferred to your purchased folder. There is also a link on the download screen that will take you directly to your purchased songs playlist. Very nice.

Previewing songs is easy. Tapping on a song will automatically start the preview, and if you came upon it in a search, double tapping will bring up the album. This all is very responsive and fast, with little to no delay between your action and the store's response.

The Bad:
No iTunes Plus. Seriously, this is a major oversight. There is not a plus or $1.29 to be seen around the Wi-Fi store. If you're opposed to DRM, this makes the Wi-Fi store pretty much worthless aside from previewing tracks. We don't know what else to say about this, except that it is baffling (firmware update, plz!?). [Update: ITunes Plus is available via the Wi-Fi store. You have to have iTunes Plus activated on the computer you sync with (iTunes store>Account Info>Manage iTunes Plus). Once you turn it on and resync, iTunes Plus content appears in the Wi-Fi store. Thanks, Sir Crumpet.]

The Wi-Fi store lacks some of the cooler features of its full-fledged brethren. Free download of the week is absent, no celebrity/featured playlists, and no spotlights that break down an era/artist/genre in depth. It's certainly not a necessity, but going through these features is a good time killer, and would be nice if you needed to kill time away from your computer.

Lastly, when you hit the buy button to purchase a track, the confirmation box pops up in the same place. Though it won't happen often, it's not out of the realm of possibility to double tap by accident and download a song you don't want.

It would also be nice if the store allowed you to download your Wi-Fi purchases on your computer without syncing your iPod to it. Because there are those situations where...say...you're trying to install App Tapp for the iPhone on your iPod and it puts it in recovery mode and forces you to reformat the iPod before you can sync. We're just saying...

We could lament the lack of video downloads, but its understandable since the file sizes are not optimized for the iPod touch and would probably take up more space and time than people are willing to give. It was a fair decision, in our opinion.

Like we said in the beginning, the Wi-Fi store is pretty slick. ~~If you don't mind the standard .m4p format the iTunes store spits out,~~ We highly recommend the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store.

Giant Moron Surgically Trims Thumbs for Better iPhone Use

Brian Lam — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 16:33:04 EDT

Thomas Martel surgically altered his thumbs with a new technique called "whittling" to better enable his naturally oversized digits to use his iPhone. The plastic surgeon made a small incision to each thumb, shaved down the bones, and even made some enhancements to his muscles and fingernails.

"Sure the proceedure was expensive, but when I think of all the time I save by being able to use modern handhelds so much faster, I really think the surgery will pay for itself in ten to fifteen years...that's priceless." Too bad it makes the big man's hands look "effeminate." I'm not sure I believe this story, but if it's real, I want photos of the tranny hands. UPDATE: Phil over at Apple 2.0 writes that this is a satire piece. Fine, I figured, but honestly, if they wanted to write satire, and not an internet myth, they probably should have gone over the top with the quotes. What they don't get is that with some Apple fans going far enough to get tattoos, this wasn't such an unbelievable jump. [NorthDenverNews]

Hands-On Samsung's BD-UP5000 Hybrid HD DVD and Blu-ray player (Verdict: So Far, the Best)

Brian Lam — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 19:30:40 EDT

I just had some hands-on time with Samsung's BD-UP5000 Duo HD, their first hybrid Blu-ray and HD DVD disc player. It's so good, it might as well be called BD-UP-Yours-Format-War. (Get it? Yeah, sorry, that wasn't too funny.) It's not the industry's first hybrid disc player—the LG BH100 has that honor. But it is the first to actually be fully compatible with both, and therefore the one that could end the HD Disc bitch fight.

Unlike the LG, the BD-UP5000 is fully HD DVD compliant, able to play back all the interactive menus and features that are the hallmark of the format. I tested it with The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and things came out flawless. Even though this was a prototype drive. Also, the drive has local storage and Ethernet, which are part of the HD DVD spec.

The UP5000 also features an HQV Reon processor, the same video scaler and deinterlacer that made the current gen Toshiba HD DVD player's images so good.

Blu-ray discs played fine, and I wish I'd brought along the Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest to see if the Blu-ray Java problems persisted. But I doubt that is an issue, given the fact that the bug is well known and was patched across the board last month.

Hand Butler: Not As Awesome As Thing

Matt Buchanan — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 11:45:50 EDT

As soon as you place an item in the Hand Butler's palm, it starts scurrying in whatever direction he's pointed in, so you'll never have to pass the popcorn yourself again. Attempts to send it flying off the table to annoy your friend that dropped $20 on it will end in failure, however, because it automatically stops at the edge of a table.

I want to know the weight limit though because I'd kind of like to try putting a baby on it and watch the hilarity ensue. – Matt Buchanan

Product Page [via Nerd Approved]

Robotic Hand Plays Beethoven

Jason Chen — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 21:30:47 EDT

How would you like a robotic hand that mime-plays Beethoven's 5th, Joplin's Entertainer, or Chopin's Minute Waltz while playing back the actual song? What? You wouldn't? Yeah, us neither. Especially because all it does is mimic piano movements, and not, you know...other stuff.

Nevertheless, this weird-looking hand works on 2AA batteries and starts when you clap. A cool office toy for guys who want to scare little children on Bring Your Daughter To Work Day. – Jason Chen

Product Page [What on Earth via Book of Joe]

Lexus IS 350: Hands All Over, Lots of Power, Even More Gadgets

Brian Lam — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 22:07:08 EDT

Gizmodo friends over at Wired's Gadgetlab reviewed a Lexus, not for it's drive impressions, but for its gadget-ocity. The count: In-dash navigation system with rearview backup camera, heated and ventilated seats, SmartAccess key that unlocks the doors and enables the starter button when you get close, radar assisted cruise control, Bluetooth, and iPod connectivity. Oh, and a 306-horsepower V6, if you're into that kind of thing. Cockpit photo after the jump. – Brian Lam

Lexus IS350 [ Lexus ]
Rob Capps gets hands on the Lexus IS350 Sedan [ Wired Gadgetlab ]

Researchers Make Robot Hand Controlled By Human Thought

Jason Chen — Wed, 31 May 2006 16:30:44 EDT

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging to scan a person's brain when they thought about making a "rock", "paper", and "scissors" shape with their hands, then mapping the scans to robot hand actions, researchers could effectively control the metal grabber just by their mind alone.

Though the scientists say they need "several breakthroughs in related technologies, including those for brain scanning hardware, before this type of non-invasive systems will be used in daily life", this provides hope for amputees to someday have a mechanical limb that works as well as their original one.

So, seeing as both this and the technology for growing back human limbs is quite a while's off, which would you rather have? Would you like a robot arm that's 10x stronger than normal, or a soft mushy arm that won't make babies cry? – Jason Chen

Robot hand controlled by thought alone [New Scientist via i4u]

Robotic Hand Helps Lazy Authors

Travis Hudson — Mon, 20 Feb 2006 06:30:05 EST

Margaret Atwood of Canadian Sci-Fi author fame has created a little gadget to help her laziness and potentially piss off her fans and fellow authors. She has invented a robotic hand called the LongPen, it will help her do book signing tours by allowing everything to be done remotely. The LongPen will include a video screen so she can still communicate with her fans and she will also still do actual signing remotely and the robotic hand will emulate the strokes. Only a select few have seen the actual invention—pictured is just a robot hand stock photo—and she will do the first unveiling at the London Book Fair.

Invention Enables Signatures From Anywhere [The Raw Feed]

Cyberhand

Travis Hudson — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 19:12:01 EST

Researchers from the European Information Society Technologies are developing an artificial hand that would be able to give patients active feeling via a sensory system and motor functions that can be controlled by the brain. This project involves researchers from all across Europe and it's already racking up a lot of achievements. A real-life Kung Fu grip—that is awesome.

The Cyberhand [Medgadget]