Discussion keeps the world turning.
This is Roundtable.
Researchers from Chinese institutions have achieved an incredible breakthrough with a new robotic hand.
It's called such because it uniquely combines human -like touch across its entire surface with precise motion.
How could this innovation revolutionize how robots interact with the world?
Coming to you live from Beijing, this is Roundtable.
My name is Steve. Hello there.
And for today's show, I'm joined by Nio Honglin and Yuxin.
First on the program.
Imagine a robot that doesn't just grip, but feels.
Its entire surface alive with sensation.
Its movements as delicate and precise as a human hand.
This isn't science fiction anymore.
Scientists from a number of different institutions, the majority of which are here in China, have unveiled a revolutionary robotic hand that merges human -like touch with unprecedented dexterity.
This is big news. It marks a milestone that could redefine how machines interact with the world.
It could be the breakthrough that finally bridges the gap between human and machine interaction.
Will we soon be seeing robots perform surgeries with the surgeon's finesse, Or maybe rescuing survivors in disasters with a gentle, intuitive touch?
The possibilities are staggering, yes.
But also, what about ethical and practical challenges that this new era of robotics might bring in?
There's a lot to talk about in the world of robotics.
There's always something going on in China in the world of robotics.
And there's a lot to discuss today as well.
Definitely. One of the most exciting events happening in China would be the Hangzhou International Android and Robot Technology Exhibition 2025.
It is held from June 20th to the 22nd at the Hangzhou Grand Convention and Exhibition Center.
And the exhibition aims to promote the development of Android industry chain and to showcase cutting -edge technologies.
Now we know over 200 pioneers, including the local stars like Hangzhou's Six Dragons.
We've talked about the Six Dragons here on Roundtable.
They are six main enterprises in this area, leading enterprises.
And there are also Alibaba Cloud, Joy Yield are expected to attend these exhibitions.
So the idea is to accelerate industrial transformation through intelligent manufacturing and cutting -edge robotics.
The exhibition would showcase key components like servo systems, sensors, and machine vision systems featuring complete machine manufacturing, system integration, and application services.
Basically, if you are in the industry, you go to these kind of exhibitions, you talk to your peers, you exploit some cooperation possibilities and learn about what's happening, what are different researches, what are certain development in the area.
Because when it comes to robot, when it comes to the manufacturing, the manufacturing chain, the different types of new advancements, people, different teams are working on these kind of research on really different aspects.
So the current one we're talking about is one of the latest. Yeah.
And I'm looking forward to hearing the news that comes out of that convention.
But yes, we are today talking about something much more specific.
It's a breakthrough with a robotic hand.
So Yuxuan, get us into it.
What makes this new development so groundbreaking?
It combines motion and it combines touch. Yes, actually the new research focuses on the development called F -TAC Hand.
Or you can see from these letters, it's more of the short for full hand tactile, and which is described as the world's first robotic hand system to combine full -hand high -resolution tactile perception with complete motion capabilities.
This breakthrough was achieved by a joint research team from institutions including Peking University and the Beijing Institute for General Artificial Intelligence and also Queen Mary University of London and other institutions.
and their findings were published in the international prestigious journal called Nature Machine Intelligence.
So, developing a robotic hand that acts and feels much like a human hand is what this kind of a full hand tactile means, I would say.
Imagine a robot hand that can not only move like yours, but also sense things the way that your skin does.
this new development use tiny smart sensors all over the hand not just as the fingertips it's amazing it sounds really interesting yeah so these sensors combined with some very intelligent moving parts they let the hand the robotic hand make really detailed and really complete movements just like a human hand can do and that means that the hand can truly feel an object right yes and it It tells the robot all kinds of information, how hard to squeeze or how hard to adjust its grip, and it does this, it transfers this information with great precision as well.
And to understand how important and how groundbreaking, basically, is the technology, we must first understand how intricate a human hand is, because it's incredibly hard to perfectly copy the complex design and control of a human hand, which has limited or older robotic hands.
So on our hands, they are featuring 27 bones, over 30 muscles, numerous ligaments, and countless nerve endings, and all working in exquisite coordination.
This incredible biological design allows for an incredible range of motion.
And actually, it is capable of approximately 27 degrees of motion, which means it can move and twist in about 27 different ways across all its joints, giving it incredible flexibility.
It is so intricate that if you accidentally hurt your hand, cut something or harm a nerve, you cannot just go to any hospital to fix your hand.
You have to go to a hand and foot specialized hospital.
And if you want to perform surgery, or doctors want to perform surgery on hands, it's very intricate.
So that's how complex a hand is, which makes mimicking the hand is also hard. Yeah, it's been one of the hardest things for robotic scientists to do, right?
Because we don't even think about it, do we?
yeah the human the human body of course is an amazing amazing thing but the human hand just move it around just look at your hand right now and move it around and you think nothing of it right but imagine trying to replicate all the things that your hand can do with a machine this is a really really uh difficult task and that's why this is such an amazing uh breakthrough um the main limitations of previous robotic hands i guess they were good at some things but not not good at others, right?
They're good at doing one thing, but not two things simultaneously.
By saying two things, I actually mean two type of actions.
They were good at either strong gripping or simple touch sensing, but not both at the same time with high quality.
And it is kind of like if you're able to pick a feather, you're able to pick a brick.
That is because when we talk about the movement or the things that we can do with our hands, we are essentially talking about coordinating hand movement with the message you get from seeing things to your brain.
So you would have an idea about if you're picking a feather or a break.
Yeah, right. And that's what robots couldn't, they struggled with that before, right?
And that information that's passed along to you is so important for how your human brain interprets it right animals too I remember my dog Heidi may she rest in peace I brought I bought her little booties for her little puppy feet so she could walk in the snow yeah she didn't like that because she lost the ability to touch the ground with her paws and sense and react appropriately right we as humans can do that but you know if you put on thick gloves sometimes and you're trying to you know touch some wires clumsy right because you don't have that information transfer to your brain and that's why
this is again such an incredible breakthrough that actually explains what i was thinking um when i was reading this paper because um i would say um yeah they developed such good um a group of sensors on these robot hand but I was thinking when human is trying to grab something is it because of the brain knows that what texture it would be and it will tell your hands to like use how much of strength you need to grab it part of it 100 % yeah I was watching a video earlier today because suddenly I became really interested in how the human hand knows what to do and the way the video explained it was your
hand receives information from your brain when you see take a cup for example right if the cup is full or empty how at which angle you will pick it up right if it's empty you might grab it from the top if it's if it's full you might grab it delicately from the side and then you know it's going to be heavier so you know how much force you need to To apply, to grip it and to pick it up.
And that is like the first stage because we've all had the experience of trying to pick something up, thinking that it's not that heavy, but fail to do so and adjust the strength we use to pick it up.
And we've also had the experience of thinking something would be really heavy.
But when you're doing so, you got surprised and both your muscle and your body and everything got surprised a little bit.
And if it is something really heavy like a suitcase, then definitely you're utilizing the strength of your whole body.
But if it's a tiny object, you can sense whether or not it's slipping from your hand and it's a real time adjustment.
And with the new technology with more sensors on this robotic hand, the hand could do the same thing.
That is to have the feeling of the texture, have the feeling, or maybe have the feeling of the pressure of the object trying to lift and adjust it in real time.
Well, now that you mention it, let's get into the tech a little bit, Yuxin.
How exactly did they achieve what they've achieved?
So, reports from domestic media Guangming Daily is saying that the high -resolution tactile sensors cover 70 % of the palm surface of this hand system, with a spatial resolution of 0 .1 millimeters, equivalent to approximately 10 ,000 tactile pixels per square centimeters of this hand.
And this may sound a little bit confusing, I know.
That means there are a lot of sensors on this hand.
You can understand it as a picture.
With more pixels on a picture, the picture is more precise and delicate and high definition.
And with more pixels of sensors on a hand, the hand can give more information to whichever brain it has to process the information.
Yes, and these stats, this far exceeds the tactile perception capabilities of currently available commercial robotic hands.
And the hand system is covered by many, many of these kind of tiny sensors.
And these super sensitive bendable sensors spread across its entire service and they can react so quick and accurate.
That is how we're trying to say this robotic hands can react so quickly when they feel the adjustment is needed.
According to the research team, the hand can mimic 19 common human grasp types.
We have 27 and the hand can already do 19 of those.
And it significantly expands its adaptability.
It shows that, one, they, well, previously, the older generation of the hands would malfunction.
The rate of successfully handle all these gestures was a little over 50 percent.
But they use the same gesture to test the new hand.
It's almost to 100 percent successful rate.
Oh, really? Yes. I was watching a different video this morning on what was wrong with, quote unquote, wrong with robots before when it came to the hand abilities.
And what they said was the robots previously, they would be able to do what you programmed them to do.
But if there were real time adjustments, then the robotic hand wouldn't know what to do in that situation because obviously it was only programmed to move in a particular way.
way. So what they did was they looked to the human hand, to this full hand tactile perception system that's thin and flexible and tough, just like the layers of human skin.
And that was kind of the inspiration for what they've done now.
It's really, really quite amazing.
All right. So where and when, maybe not so much when, but where are the immediate and future applications for this hand?
Where in the world will we see this be putting into use?
Yeah. And now we know that it can operate so accurately and precisely.
So precision manufacturing and assembly of delicate components are immediate beneficiaries.
Indeed, in industries that deal with very, let's say, small, fragile and complex parts such as electronics, medical devices or specialized manufacturing could see significant advancements.
For example, you know, assembling tiny microchips into a circuit board or fitting together the incredibly small parts of a high -end watch. You know, we all call these new technologies of chips as nanometers.
Yes. You cannot imagine how small it could be.
What was that called?
One -tenth or one -hundredth of the length of your hair.
Yeah, you cannot even see it through your eyes.
No, no. So basically, when you're operating these kind of things, maybe this could help in the future manufacturing area and also in healthcare industry, particularly in surgical assistance.
And rehabilitation holds immense potential when, you know, actually doctors or these kind of operating tables, they can operate with their own senses, I would say.
Yeah, because there are robotics in surgery being used right now.
Exactly. But those are controlled by the doctors.
Yeah. Yes. So this application in an operating room would be that the robotic hand, perhaps, that the doctor is controlling could provide real -time information back to the doctor.
And that would be a pretty significant advancement, too.
It's definitely pretty significant because we, or I, kind of like to understand the human body as a very high -tech robot or machine that can perform very precise actions with the right amount of practice.
Like when you're writing, you're learning Chinese calligraphy or English calligraphy, if it exists.
when you do that one thing to do it is to mimic how to write it what is the right font but before doing that a very important step is to learn how to control the pen and you need to draw straight lines or horizontal lines or waves of lines just so your muscles understand how to control the pen to do the precise actions yet with the right technology on the robotic hands It can already do the very precise action.
And plus, now they can sense, they can adjust, and they would be able to learn the techniques even faster than a human doctor, which would definitely be very helpful in these areas.
Would you feel comfortable with that?
That's actually, you know, my where my contradiction lies, actually.
Of course, it is an impressive creation or I mean, invention.
attention but when we're talking about like these fixed position that you need to do but you need to do it very precisely the modern technology and also the existed robotics can do it already actually but when we are doing these kind of things in surgeries let's say and it actually need experience of a real human i don't think so that was that's why i was i was thinking when When you're using this in manufacturing, could it be a little bit wasteful?
Well, one of the positives, they say, is that it could cut down on errors.
It could make it a lot more efficient because it could react in real time.
And also, there are already remote surgeries performed by doctors in one place and the patients in another place.
They're using these technologies already.
It's just with a handful of sensors, the sensor, like Steve has just said, can provide teachers or doctors with more information of when they're cutting, what are they feeling.
So it's not only the information, the visual information, but also a little bit of the touching and feeling the pressure it's cut into.
So definitely, I think it will be helpful.
And besides that, there are also high -risk scenarios, such as aerospace, deep -sea exploration, and nuclear operations.
With these hands, they offer a safer, more precise alternative to human intervention as well.
Yeah, safer, right?
Definitely. Being able to get to places that humans can't or shouldn't, perhaps.
I think another application in the field of medicine would be prosthetics, right?
right? Prosthetic hands that offer a more natural and sensitive experience for amputees.
This could be an absolute game changer for people with that need.
What about… We talked about industry.
We talked about the healthcare industry.
What about our homes, though?
Our houses? Does this help in any way, shape, or form?
When we are thinking about these very cloudy, high -tech things that was used in, let's say, aerospace development, actually, maybe in the future, we can see these technologies in our homes.
So, this advanced robotic hand could revolutionize how robots assist us with, you know, everyday household chores, maybe performing tasks with much greater fineness.
And think about the difference between a clumsy pair of tones and your fingers.
It's easier to use your fingers than it is to use a pair of.
Yeah. And with its ability to feel and adjust its grip, it's this kind of a robotic hand could perform many domestic tasks that that currently frustrate simpler robots.
Oh, so you're talking about things like folding laundry, maybe very delicately, right?
If you have some expensive shirts or pants or blouses or whatever, if a robot was able to have a sense of feel with their hands when they're doing it, they could handle that more delicately.
And you think, oh, well, we don't need that.
Yeah, wait 15 years and see who's living in your house with you.
It's probably going to be a robot, right?
And there are two types of technological advancements or two ways to do research when it comes to the development of technology, in my opinion.
One is to find a problem and solve that problem by creating a new product.
You are doing a surgery, perform a specific type of surgery, and you cannot get around a certain bone.
And you need a technology or tiny tool to get around it.
So you invent that tool.
That's one way of doing things.
But here we're looking at the other way, more fundamental way.
That is to improve a thing or an object that is used or that can be applied on a lot of different scenarios.
It's kind of like a game changer.
If with this technology or previously without the technology, it's hard for us to even imagine what we can do with the technology.
That would be a game changer.
And I think this can be.
Now we're only imagining what it could do.
but it's changing how human interact with robots, how human cooperate with robots.
And with more or better ways that human cooperate with robots, more things can be achieved.
Well, let's talk about that then.
What do you think? I mean, what's going to change them with this advancement?
If anything, the human -robot relationship, the human -robot experience, is this going to change things at all?
Yeah, I think it is kind of a boosting the safety sense that people or human will have that ability to feel allows robots to safely work very close to people and fragile items. Right.
And one of the biggest worries about robots working with people has always been safety.
But a robot hand with these advanced touch sensors can immediately tell if it's accidentally bumping into something or pushing too hard. And this lets it stop or change its movement right away.
And this kind of hugely reduces the risk of breaking things or hurting human coworkers and allowing robots to be used in places where safety cages used to be a must. I know it's my second dog reference of the day but now I'm reminded of my sister's dog Snoop this huge huge golden lab and he loved to play to hug but yes jump and hug this dog was about 160 pounds and he had no idea how big he was I can already see the scratch on my thighs right so Snoop would come and run at like 20 miles an hour and jump up on you and break the bone and not knowing how heavy he was and the damage he was potentially
doing. That's what we're talking about here, humans working with robots.
If the robots previously didn't have any sense of their own strength or how little amount of strength they should be using in a particular scenario, then this is a development.
But also there's the trust factor too, I think, right?
Before, I didn't trust the dog to not hurt me when it jumped up on me.
workers in a factory might not have trusted the robot before to perform perfectly but now with this advancement there there could be a development there too and with a development there people would be able to even yushen has spoke out his concern just now i still think robots can be moved to more human -centered areas.
You would not trust a robot to take care of your elder parents now, but give it 10 years, maybe you would, because this technology along with other technological advancements, the robots can be smarter and smarter, allowing people who operates it to be less and less professional.
Maybe previously, a robot can perform both in highly industrialized actions but you know heavy grips and it can also take care of a person but you need to switch different modes with more and better technology you don't have to don't have to do that so it can be used in our homes in elderly care industries yeah i mean think about that it might not be tomorrow but think if your grandma or your grandpa needed assistance getting from a wheelchair into bed or a wheelchair onto the sofa or something like that a robot that can sense touch and make real -time adjustments could handle that task perfectly
right um the the list of advantages is is really quite long but we do too have to talk about the ethical concerns or the societal impacts that might be worth some worry and what might those be yeah um you know these things really brings us one step closer to the science fiction that we are seeing right now i still still remembering the animated series it's called cyberpunk 2077 you know that people kept enhancing their abilities by replacing their limbs or even their body parts with man uh mechanical parts right as our real lives like i would say grow more similar to these sci -fi scenes we're
faced with serious ethical questions such as is it better to just stay natural and original or to to become stronger through artificial means.
Human augmentation.
Yeah, this is a very serious issue when we're thinking about, actually, are we really going to put an electronic part in our body or is this actually helping us to have a back to the normal life that we used to have?
Yeah, there are the other concerns about replacing human jobs and who's responsible if the robot makes a mistake.
But those are the conversations we have every time we talk about AI or robotics data and privacy concern, too.
What about the future, then?
Any other advancements that we need to be aware of?
Well, we see that it definitely marks a new era for general -purpose robot handling, moving beyond robots that only do specific jobs.
We talked about it a little bit already.
And it will speed up how quickly robots become part of complex, messy and unpredictable environments.
And it's not like Steve has already mentioned in the very beginning of our conversation.
It's not the only type of technological advancements that's happening here in China and around the world.
different teams in different universities, different research centers are doing different types of research trying to solve problems, trying to make groundbreaking advancements so that our future looks different but better.
And I did a little research and I found out one of the most interesting technological advancements I found was a mosquito inspired micro robot.
And it's really funny because it is in the exact shape and look of a mosquito what does it do it can go to dangerous places to um it's kind of like an insect insect inspecting um item it can go to for instance a earthquake struck area to detect whether or not there are survivors and it can lift really heavy heavy things.
And one, because it's really tiny.
Lift. It can lift the weight of 500 times of its body weight.
It's not so much, but it can at least lift some little objects.
So it can go into. Oh, it can move stuff out of the way.
It can move stuff a little bit as well.
And the funny thing is because it's so tiny, you would worry about strong wind, blow it away.
Or I'll just snap it.
Yes, but the researcher is saying that even when hit by strong winds or obstacles, the robot can quickly regain balance, meaning that even in extreme cases, it can fly into the places you want it to be and to make sure to get the information you want.
And because it's so tiny, the battery must be so tiny.
So now the technology allows it to land on a specific charging platform to charge for 30 seconds.
And it can last for eight minutes of flying.
Oh, eight minutes? Eight minutes of flying.
And another fun thing.
You sound disappointed.
Yeah, like, okay, charge it for, of course, 30 seconds, but flying for eight minutes.
Because it's so tiny.
Tiny. It's hard to balance the weight and the scale of the machine and also the lasting stability.
And another funny thing I found was that it can or it can act as a group, not only as this one individual, 50 robots can perform a formation, flying, task allocation and cooperative sensing so they can work as a team.
And it's also mimicking the real situation in the natural world.
world. Does it also make the mosquito sound that we hate so much in the summertime?
This one. That'll keep you up at night.
But that's not, you know, the sound that mosquitoes make.
It's the sound of, it's wings make.
So I think definitely it will have that kind of sound.
Globally there are also micro bionic robots like crawling robots navigating ruins, flying robots hovering in the air, they can do that.
And jumping robots leaping across terrains, and also underwater robots simulating marine life.
And all these functions, all these advancements are just, you know, they're, they're trying things out, they're testing, they might not have a specific problem to solve.
But with the technology there, one, the problem reveals itself, we would have a solution.
Yeah. And the problem of the robotic hand has been something that researchers have been trying to tackle for a very long time.
But a hand that can really feel and adapt means robots can now operate effectively in places that are unstructured, changing, or need gentle interaction from your house to a disaster relief zone.
Again, this advancement is phenomenal.
