Robots have been a part of every automaker's manufacturing arsenal for three decades now, but that doesn't make this latest effort at improving plant automation any less cool. While most factory robots are neither humanoid nor particularly interesting, the only thing more exciting than this pseudo-cyborg hand for rivetheads is ordering up the entire run of The Six Million Dollar Man from Netflix.While General Motors clearly doesn't have the cash or inclination to turn each of its roughly 50,000 United Auto Workers employees into Colonel Steve Austin, the new Robo-Glove would allow its wearer to have super hand strength. GM says the force required to grasp tools could be reduced by a third to a half for those wearing the special gloves, which are operated by a standard lithium-ion battery like the ones used to power cordless hand tools. The gloves would allow workers to hold their tools comfortably for longer periods of time and possibly reduce the risk of repetitive stress injury.
The gloves were an outgrowth of GM's partnership with NASA in developing the Robonaut 2, the first humanoid robot to be launched into space when it went up to the International Space Station last year. GM developed the first prototype gloves in March 2011, while the second generation was completed three months later. They weigh about a pound each and contain all the electronics, actuators and a small display.
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