What has opposable thumbs and is the most dexterous tool on the planet? The human hand, obviously. Well … not anymore. At ...

EPFL's robotic appendage features fingers that bend both ways and is designed to retrieve objects from spaces too hazardous for human hands.

A robotic hand developed at EPFL surpasses the limits of human dexterity with a dual-thumbed, reversible-palm design that can detach from its robotic ‘arm’ to reach and grasp multiple objects.

The system's hybrid design is a first for robotic hands, which have typically been too rigid or too soft to replicate a human's touch when handling objects of varying textures and materials. The ...