Robotic glove technology developed from a partnership between General Motors (
www.GM.com) and NASA (
www.nasa.gov) for use on the International Space Station is finding new life on Earth — in health-care, manufacturing and other industrial applications — though a licensing agreement between GM and Bioservo Technologies AB, a Swedish medical-technology company.
Working with GM, Bioservo will combine technology from its SEM (Soft Extra Muscle) Glove technology with the RoboGlove, a force-multiplying battery-powered ‘wearable’ developed by GM and NASA during a nine-year collaboration that included the launch of the Robonaut 2 (R2) humanoid robot into space in 2011.
The RoboGlove uses leading-edge sensors, actuators and tendons that are comparable to the nerves, muscles and tendons in a human hand.
One design requirement for R2 was to operate tools designed for humans, and the developers achieved unprecedented hand dexterity.
That technology was applied to the RoboGlove. Bioservo will initially develop a new grasp-assist device for industrial use that could increase human operator efficiency while reducing fatigue in hand muscles.
Research shows that fatigue can occur within a few minutes of continuously gripping a tool.
Tomas Ward, CEO of Bioservo, said: “Combining the best of three worlds — space technology from NASA, engineering from GM and medtech from Bioservo — in a new industrial glove could lead to industrial-scale use of the technology.”
GM intends to be the first US manufacturing customer for the refined robotic glove and will test it in some of its plants.
Bioservo will make and sell the new glove for a variety of uses, including medical rehabilitation and any place additional gripping strength is needed.
GM briefly tested RoboGlove in a pre-production plant before looking for a partner to help refine it to fit different size hands and address other issues.