Tag Archives: hands

Researchers Develop Octopus Sucker Glove for Grasping Objects Underwater

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Researchers from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Virginia Tech (my alma mater!), led by Assistant Professor Michael Bartlett, have developed the Octa-Glove, a glove with octopus-like suckers on the fingers designed for firmly grasping objects underwater without requiring grip strength. That’s great news because my grip strength has always been lacking.


The glove features soft sucker-like membranes, which, when actuated, attach to objects much like an actual octopus’s tentacles without needing to apply any grip pressure. An array of micro-LIDAR optical proximity sensors detect just how far away an object is, and a microcontroller can activate or releases adhesion almost instantly. When reached for comment, Doctor Octopus says he wishes he’d thought of this.

The researchers envision the gloves being utilized in future underwater search and rescue missions, presumably rescuing mermaids from the evil grasp of Ursula. But will you be able to fight her organic suckers with robotic ones? Only time will tell, but I imagine Ariel is pretty worried about it.

[via TechEBlog]

Creepy Articulated Finger Extensions Are Nightmare Fuel

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Because why not make every day Halloween, HELIAN is selling these 3D Printed Flexible Finger Extensions on Amazon (affiliate link). The gloves feature long articulated fingers reminiscent of Freddy Krueger’s that triple the length of your existing fingers, presumably so you can reach the television remote without straining yourself. Or at least that’s how I plan on using them.

The fingers can be individually posed in any position, and if you don’t pose the middle finger flipping one of the longest birds I’ve ever seen, clearly, you’ve missed the point of these gloves entirely. Alternatively, cover the gloves with faux fur and pretend you’re a werewolf. Either way, I’ll be sure to keep my distance from the crazy person with the finger claws.

Whatever you do, if you see someone wearing a pair of finger-extending gloves, DO NOT ask for a back scratch. I made that mistake, and now I can’t even look at a fingernail without flinching – which particularly sucks because I have ten of them and spend all day typing, so my workday is pretty much just one long flinchfest now. You’d think I’d seen a ghost! Granted, I really have before, but that’s unrelated.

Desktop Hand Massager for Gamers: Keep Your Trigger Finger Nimble

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It’s important to keep your hands at peak performance for gaming sessions, otherwise, you might misclick and kill a teammate instead of an enemy. Trust me – it happens, and I’ve been kicked out my fair share of guilds and clans to prove it. So to help alleviate muscle strain and fatigue, Japanese gaming furniture manufacturer Bauhutte has released the cleverly named Hand Massager, a desktop hand massager to keep your hands at optimal gaming readiness.

Available from Amazon Japan, the Hand Massager features fifteen individual air cushions “to remove fatigue and weariness from the palm and each finger one by one.” It has the option to massage your entire hand or just the fingers and has three different massage settings of increasing pressure. It also has a hand-warming option (I assume operated by the crispy bacon button) to help keep your muscles loose and your trigger finger nimble. Am I going to blame it for not doing a good enough job every time I lose a game? Otherwise, what’s the point of buying one?

So, will the Hand Massager actually give you a competitive gaming edge? That’s debatable. I mean it’s not going to make up for lack of skill, that’s for sure, which is a shame because that’s definitely what I’m lacking. I’ve never even finished in the top 90 of a 100 person battle royale before. The kids in those chatrooms – they say horrible things to me.

[via Kotaku]

3D Printed Scary Hands Reaching Out of Wall: No Touching!

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Because some people’s idea of interior design is the Addams Family mansion, these are the Scary Reaching Wall Hands 3D printed and sold by Etsy shop 3DDeluxeStore. Available in black and white in four different styles, they’ll make the perfect coat racks at your next Halloween party. Granted I won’t need to use the coat rack because I’ll be wearing a superhero cape.

The hands cost $10 – $22 depending on the style chosen (ranging in size from a toddler-sized hand to one that’s larger than most adult hands), or you can get a set of all four for $65. Will I rip all the towel bars out of the walls in my bathroom and replace them with these? No, this is a rental property and I’d like to get my full security deposit back.

I am tempted to buy one, that way the next time my wife asks me to lend a hand with something around the house I can tell her it’s fine if she just borrows the one on the wall. I’ll have a good laugh about it, but that laugh will cost me my place in bed that night.