Robotics have come a long way, but they still often miss that innate, nervous sense of reluctant touch. Intel researchers have achieved something similar with a robotic hand that uses electrolocation to create a robotic hand conform to the shape of an object before interacting with it. Shown at Research@Intel Day, the hand uses fish-like electrolocation to bounce electric fields off of objects and then conform the hand to that shape in real time. They call the dynamic "Pre Touch," and it could prove useful for configuring robotics before they interact with objects without, say, damaging them or missing the interface completely. We've been aware of the technology for some time, but as you can see in the video after the break, Intel finally has something to show, and the results are what can only be described as a strangely nervous robotic hand.

Although we've certainly seen our share of glitz in the Bluetooth headset market, thankfully several manufacturers have realized that the less noticed a headset is, the better -- and Bluetrek's new Sense headset seems as low-key as any. The piano black device features a touch-sensitive talk button, voice alerts for common functions like redialing and pairing, voice dialing, and a detachable thin support wire designed for glasses-wearers. At £49 ($100), it's not necessarily the deal of the century, but it'll definitely stack up well against similarly austere headsets when it goes on sale early next year.

[Via Pocket-lint]

While robotic hands typically have no trouble demolishing objects they grab, Intel researchers are looking to make these stereotypically brawny gizmos a bit more sensitive. The technology, dubbed pre-touch, incorporates sensors into a mechanical hand, which enables it to scan objects before it grabs them and react accordingly. Notably, the goal is to "improve the ability of robots to grasp objects in unstructured human environments," potentially making them more useful in the home. Go on, check out the video below -- it won't pinch.

[Via The Raw Feed]
Read - Robots that sense before they touch
Read - Pre-touch video demonstration

Although Matsushita and Activelink have rolled out a rehabilitating robotic suit aimed at giving handicapped individuals their ability to maneuver their own body parts once again, it appears that Claudia Mitchell has regained her sense of movement using a slightly different apparatus. Touted as wearing the "world's first" bionic arm controlled by thought alone, she now has the ability to carry out simple, albeit quite critical tasks again such as cutting up food. Doctors have re-routed the nerve endings in her arm to "a patch of skin on her chest," essentially enabling her prosthetic arm to respond to her thoughts concerning movement. Furthermore, a recent study of her wrist, hand, and elbow functions revealed that she could perform tasks "four times quicker than with a conventional prosthesis," and the team hopes to install "touch sensors" on the artificial hand in order to allow for tactile feedback in the future. Claudia seems to be understandably thrilled with the results thus far, as it even allows her to accomplish tasks such as putting on makeup and feeding herself -- but we're slightly disappointed that she apparently hasn't given a round of Wii Sports a go to build up those oh-so-crucial hand-eye coordination skills, but we're sure that challenge is just around the bend.

[Via Digg]