Ever wish you had an extra few fingers to help with daily tasks? That’s what Sang-won Leigh from MIT’s Fluid Interfaces Group has set out to do with his set of programmable cyborg-like joints that suddenly give you an extra pinky, a third thumb or even another hand. Simply strap Robotic Symbionts around your wrist and voilà!
The wearable consists of 11 different motors and can detect brain signals sent to the brachioradialis muscle in the forearm. Since these muscles aren’t used to move your actual hand, anyone can learn to employ their Robotic Symbiont with just a few hours of practice. According to its paper, the motors are linked together using LEGO parts, each of them with a range of motion of 180 degrees. Meanwhile, cables from each motor are connected to an Arduino.
The device itself can be rearranged and reprogrammed for various use cases, whether that’s turning into a joystick or trigger on demand, helping flip a page of a book while holding it open, or lending some support to take one-handed notes. The possibilities are truly endless!