Luke Skywalker could have found this pretty useful: a team of scientists have created a robotic finger that could very well be mistaken for the real thing, all attached to a very life-like hand.
Engineers at Florida Atlantic University's College of Engineering and Computer Science and its Department of Ocean and Mechanical Engineering developed the finger in response to more robotic prostheses, which tend to be more stiff, inelastic and, well, more robotic-looking in their design, accompanied by a finite range of motion. Following this trajectory, the team came up with their realistic-looking prosthetic prototype thanks to the help of some shape memory alloy (SMA), a 3D printer, 3D CAD model and a one-of-a-kind thermal technique to train the synthetic phalange to utilize an extensive motional berth, all detailed in an article published in Bioinspiration & Biomimetics.
According to a press release issued by the university, the FAU scientists used SMA — which, as the aforementioned "thermal technique" suggests, reacts to heat — and the implementation of the Joule-Thomson process, which utilizes the heat created when a current circuits through a conductor. After 3D-printing the exterior hardware (i.e., the pieces that made the robotic prosthesis look like a real-life hand), the pieces were then fitted over a flexor (which bends when heated), an extensor actuator (which straightens) and a position sensor (which does more or less what the name suggests).
After that, SMA material was shaped into plates, which were used to create the actual apparatus, and a U-shaped mounting for the circuit components charged the hand, letting the current rip while acting as the robot's source of power. The result? A very flexible robot.
