Robot hand that knows how to do magic

In a video shared by LinkerBot on YouTube this week, LinkerHand O30 performs three magic tricks, including exchanging cards, drawing toy cars from thin cards and making coins disappear. Interesting Engineering assessed that everything was done quickly and skillfully, showing that the robot was capable of performing finger movements that required precise coordination.

According to LinkerBot, the LinkerHand O30 has 20 degrees of freedom, allowing the joints to be controlled independently to create movements more like a human hand. The robot hand weighs only 730 grams and is designed to be easily assembled into existing robots.

This unit can also communicate with other systems using CAN and CAN FD connections, and receive control commands at a frequency of 500 times per second. It can move repeatedly to a position with an error of 0.2 mm, manipulate small or fragile objects skillfully, open or close completely in about 0.8 seconds, and bear a maximum load of 30 kg.

The LinkerHand O30's thumb is capable of generating fingertip force of up to 24 N, while the horizontal clamping force of 4 fingers reaches 30 N, the gripping force of 5 fingers reaches 70 N. These capabilities help the hand perform many types of grasping and manipulation instead of just relying on a fixed clamping style.

LinkerBot said that the new robot hand is suitable for manufacturing applications that require high precision such as in the electronics, automobile, and aerospace industries. In addition, it can also serve as a hardware platform, serving advanced robotics research and model training.

Founded in 2023, LinkerBot develops many dexterous robot hand models with different degrees of freedom, meeting the diverse needs of customers. This startup's robotic hand has 5 fingers and at least 11 joints, an important part for humanoid robots, and is sold for from 600 USD in China. Zhou Yong, Chief Technology Officer and founder of LinkerBot, predicts that in the next 3-5 years, the price of each product will drop to 200 USD.

Zhou also believes that in the future, humanoid robots will be very cheap. "Eventually, the average person could own 10 robots," he told Wired.