Let's give DARPA a hand for helping create a new robotic grasper. The three-fingered hand might look like the claw from an old-fashioned arcade game but is stronger and super-durable -- and is said to cost only $3,000, as compared to $50, 000 for similar devices.
As you can see in this new video released by DARPA -- the acronym stands for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency -- the device is strong enough to lift a 50-pound weight and sturdy enough to withstand a blow from a baseball bat. It can even unlock a door and use tweezers.
But if the new hand is getting kudos, DARPA's getting eye rolls for the video's soundtrack. "This is some porn music right here, sexy as fack [sic]," Youtube user CanadianImperialist commented.
The hand was developed by the Bedford, Mass. company iRobot, with help from researchers at Yale and Harvard and funding from DARPA.
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