Shadow Robot
Assembly Line
Shadow Robot DEX-EE hand takes manipulation to next level
Google DeepMind requested the inclusion of a high number of sensors to prioritize data collection, so Shadow Robot set about designing a hand with, as Walk put it, βfar more sensors than would be sensible in any other context.β
The goal was to create a robot hand with high dexterity, sensitivity, and robustness for real-world learning tasks, without replicating the appearance of a human hand. To best achieve these needs, the design relies on three robust fingers and a hand around 50% larger than that of a human hand.
The result is DEX-EE, a robotic hand replete with high-speed sensor networks that provide rich data including position, force, and inertial measurement. This is augmented with hundreds of channels of tactile sensing per finger, optimizing pressure sensitivity to a dizzying level of magnitude, almost akin to that of a human hand.