Sensing robot hand flicks, flinches, and grips like a human

A student team at USC Viterbi, led by assistant professor Daniel Seita, has developed the MOTIF Hand, a robotic hand designed to mimic human touch by sensing multiple modalities such as pressure, temperature, and motion. Unlike traditional robot grippers, the MOTIF Hand integrates a thermal camera embedded in its palm to detect heat without physical contact, allowing it to "flinch" away from hot surfaces much like a human would. It also uses force sensors in its fingers to apply precise pressure and can gauge the weight or contents of objects by flicking or shaking them, replicating human instincts in object interaction. The MOTIF Hand builds on previous open-source designs like Carnegie Mellon’s LEAP Hand, with the USC team also committing to open-source their work to foster collaboration in the robotics community. The developers emphasize that this platform is intended as a foundation for further research, aiming to make advanced tactile sensing accessible to more teams. Their findings have been published on Arxiv, highlighting a significant step toward