A biomimetic robotic finger created using 3-D printing – IAM Network

Humans are innately capable of performing complex movements with their hands via the articulation of their endoskeletal structure. These movements are made possible by ligaments and tendons that are elastically connected to a fairly rigid bone structure. Researchers at University of California- Santa Cruz and Ritsumeikan University in Japan have recently designed and fabricated a robotic finger inspired by the human endoskeletal structure. This biomimetic robotic finger, presented at this year's International Conference on Ubiquitous Robots and Ambient Intelligence (URAI), was assembled using a multi-material 3-D printer. "Developing a robotic hand that has hard and soft components, just like the human hand, is a research topic that I wanted to explore for years," Maryam Tebyani, one of the researchers who carried out the study, told TechXplore.