Mimic Robotics Develops New Robotic Hand

(CONNECT) The Zurich-based robotics company mimic robotics has unveiled the M1 robotic hand and the U1 exoskeleton, an integrated hardware and software platform for industrial automation. Both systems, as well as the accompanying software, are developed and manufactured entirely in-house. The company is thus pursuing a full-stack approach in which hardware, data collection, and artificial intelligence (AI) models all come from a single source.

According to a statement from mimic, unlike large language models, robots cannot be trained using internet-based datasets. Instead, high-quality data from real hand movements is required. The U1 exoskeleton was therefore developed to capture such training data directly from human movements. “The goal is to collect robot data without needing the robot. Teleoperation cannot, in principle, be scaled,” CPO Stephan-Daniel Gravert is quoted as saying in the press release.

The M1 robotic hand is modeled after the human hand in terms of function. It has 21 joints and 15 actively driven degrees of freedom, including an opposable thumb. The fingers are moved by tendons connected to actuators in the forearm. As a result, the system is suitable for both lifting heavy loads and performing tasks that require fine motor skills. At the same time, the actuators serve as force sensors and provide additional data for controlling the AI.

The U1 wearable replicates the movements of the human hand exactly as they are on the robotic hand. Sensors, encoders, and a wrist-mounted camera precisely track movements and generate training data that can be used to efficiently transfer manipulation tasks to the robot. ce/ja