CMU-Led Research Group Designing Robotic Hands For Use in Health, Agriculture, Manufacturing
The NSF Convergence Accelerator phase two kickoff meeting was held in Pittsburgh in July and brought the team together for knowledge transfer, strategy discussions, planning and demos.
Work led by Carnegie Mellon University researchers to design better robotic hands for use in health, agriculture and manufacturing will receive additional support from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF).
Altus Dexterity, a collaborative team of researchers from CMU, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the University of Houston, will receive up to $5 million from NSF to continue working on its robotic hand designs and test its products in real-world pilot projects.
“Many robots appear humanlike and dexterous, but they can’t do what people do. They cannot do the dexterous fine manipulation tasks required in our factories, homes, hospitals and farms,” said Nancy Pollard, a member of Altus Dexterity and a professor in the Robotics Institute and Computer Science Department in CMU’s School of Computer Science. “We are creating skill-augmented hands, drawing from years of study on how people use their hands, to bridge this gap and bring functional dexterity to real-world applications.”
To achieve those real-world applications, Pollard teamed up with Dominik Bauer, who earned his Ph.D. in robotics from CMU, and Cornelia Bauer, a current CMU robotics Ph.D. student, to launch FuturHand Robotics Inc. The company is testing its products in Bosch factories, focusing early pilots on robotic hands doing cable plug insertion and handling. At the same time, the team remains interested in dexterous robotic hands for health and medical applications.
“With a growing team and NSF support, FuturHands Robotics is turning years of research into real-world tools,” Pollard said. “Our dexterous robots could soon become fixtures in factories and fields where human-like touch and precision are essential.”
Altus Dexterity is part of the 2023 cohort of the NSF Bio-Inspired Design Innovations track, part of the Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships and aligned to the NSF Convergence Accelerator program. FuturHand Robotics is based on work with bioinspired robotic hands completed in Phase 1 of the program. The research team recently entered Phase 2, and is working to expand and test the capabilities of its robots.
The NSF Convergence Accelerator program is designed to transform discoveries from the lab into practical solutions that address grand challenges. For Altus Dexterity, this means moving beyond prototypes to pilot programs and industry partnerships where dexterous robots can demonstrate their value. The program also provides an intensive curriculum for recipients, where teams can learn from a wide variety of experts in sales, product development and business management.
“The curriculum has really helped us accelerate,” Pollard said. “FuturHands is hiring its first full-time employees, and we’re implementing learned best practices into working with customers and investors.”
More information about Altus Dexterity is available on its website. To learn more about FuturHands, visit the company’s website.
For More Information: Aaron Aupperlee | 412-268-9068 | aaupperlee@cmu.edu