General Motors and NASA used technology from their space-bound Robonaut 2 to create robotic gloves for humans that the companies hope can reduce repetitive stress injuries.
Watch this video on YouTube to see the K-glove.
The K-glove could assist assembly workers, astronauts and others who need to grip and release objects repeatedly. NASA and GM said in a statement that “continuously gripping a tool can cause fatigue in hand muscles within a few minutes.”
Where a worker might need to apply 15 to 20 pounds of force to hold a tool, the Robo-glove could reduce that to just 5 to 10 pounds.
GM and NASA developed the glove from Robonaut 2, or R2, a robot that resides on the International Space Station and is designed to help astronauts with repetitive or dangerous tasks. It flew into space in late 2011.
The Robo-glove is still a prototype and there are no immediate plans for commercialization.
Nick Barber covers general technology news in both text and video for IDG News Service. E-mail him at Nick_Barber@idg.com and follow him on Twitter at @nickjb.