When it comes to bionic limbs, one of the main problems with their form and function is that they look and feel … well, bionic. Despite the incredible advances in medicine and technology that have allowed prosthetics to behave more like organic body parts and even offer sensation, the fact remains that they don’t behave (or look) quite like the real thing. But now, Dr. Erik Engeberg, an assistant professor in the Department of Ocean and Mechanical Engineering at Florida Atlantic University, may have a solution to this problem with his development of a “novel robotic finger that looks and feels like the real thing.” Drawing from nature and biology for his design, Engeberg employed “shape memory alloy (SMA), a 3D CAD model of a human finger, a 3D printer, and a unique thermal training technique” in order to create a 3D-printed bionic finger that may take prosthetics into a whole new generation.
Whereas prosthetics and bionic limbs are historically rather immobile, or at the very least, rigid, Engeberg wanted to create a device that had a wider range of motion and operated more like a natural limb would. To do so, the FAU team developed a heating process called “Joule” heating. With a 3D printer, they created the inner and outer molds that housed a flexor and extensor actuator and a position sensor. The extensor actuator takes a straight shape when it’s heated, whereas the flexor actuator takes a curved shape when heated, in which currents are passed through a heat-releasing conductor.
In constructing the finger, Engeberg first took a 3D CAD model of a real human digit, then took a 3D printer and created the small, soft (or flesh-like) components of the limb. Within these 3D-printed parts were a flexor actuator and an extensor actuator, with the former taking a curved shape when heated through the Joule process and the latter taking a straightened position.
The result was a heating and cooling based robotic finger that is capable of flexing and extending more quickly than other bionic fingers, and also maintains its natural resting position more completely.
“We have been able to thermomechanically train our robotic finger to mimic the motions of a human finger like flexion and extension,” said Engeberg. “Because of its light weight, dexterity and strength, our robotic design offers tremendous advantages over traditional mechanisms, and could ultimately be adapted for use as a prosthetic device, such as on a prosthetic hand.”
Although preliminary tests certainly suggest that Engeberg’s new finger looks and operates much more naturally than other models on the market, the team is still trying to work out a few kinks, including how long it takes for the heating and cooling process to actually take place. As a result, Engeberg suggests that the first applications of this new technology be in “underwater robotics, because it would naturally provide a rapidly cooling environment.”
So while it may still be awhile until we get to experience this new technology, it just may be the case that the bionic human being is much closer and much more life-like than previously expected.
San Francisco startup Dimensional advertised for people to walk robot dogs through city streets. The New York Times reported that the job could include carrying a roughly 33-pound robot back to the office if it overheated. A lift home is an awkward requirement for a labor-saving machine.
Keeping the hardware running is only one challenge. Anthropic's robotics tests found that language models mostly failed when controlling joints directly, but did better when directing trained controllers. Giving an AI agent a body doesn't teach it to handle ordinary household objects.
Soon, a mattress protector may be more than a bed cover. Australian medtech company Sleeptite and researchers at RMIT University have received a US patent for FlexiSense, a smart bedding technology that tracks body position and posture to help caregivers identify when older residents may be at risk of falling.
The technology is being developed for Sleeptite’s in-bed monitoring system, REMi, and was recently on display at The MedTech Conference in Boston. A peer-reviewed study in Flexible and Printed Electronics says the sensors can also be made at scale without sacrificing performance or durability.
AI companies spend enormous amounts of time convincing us their technology is safe and secure. But what happens when those same companies become targets of increasingly sophisticated AI-powered attacks? Anthropic, the company behind Claude, is now facing that question. According to a Washington Post report, cybersecurity startup Cathedral discovered vulnerabilities that let its researchers access sensitive information in Anthropic's internal systems.
The researchers used AI agents to identify potential entry points in less than 12 hours. Interestingly, they didn't need to crack Claude itself. Instead, they exploited weaknesses in third-party business applications that Anthropic uses for everyday operations. Anthropic's security testing program disclosed the findings, which allows outside researchers to identify and report vulnerabilities.