Video Friday: Non-Humanoid Hands for Humanoid Robots
Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your friends at IEEE Spectrum robotics. We also post a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few months. Please send us your events for inclusion.
World Robot Summit: 10-12 October 2025, OSAKA, JAPANIROS 2025: 19-25 October 2025, HANGZHOU, CHINAEnjoy today's videos!
There are two things that I really appreciate about this video on grippers from Boston Dynamics. First, building a gripper while keeping in mind that the robot will inevitably fall onto it, because I'm seeing lots of very delicate-looking five-fingered hands on humanoids, and I'm very skeptical of their ruggedness. And second, understanding that not only is a five-fingered hand very likely unnecessary for the vast majority of tasks, but also robot hands don't have to be constrained by a human hand's range of motion.
[ Boston Dynamics ]
Yes, okay, it's a fancy-looking robot, but I'm still stuck on what useful, practical things can it reliably and cost-effectively and safely DO?
- YouTubeyoutu.be
[ Figure ]
Life on Earth has evolved in constant relation to gravity, yet we rarely consider how deeply it shapes living systems until we imagine a place without it. In MycoGravity, pink oyster mushrooms grow inside a custom-built bioreactor mounted on a KUKA robotic arm. Inspired by NASA's random positioning machines, the robot's programmed movement simulates altered gravity. Over time, sculptural mushrooms emerge, shaped by their environment without a stable gravitational direction.
[ MycoGravity ]
A new technological advancement gives robotic systems a natural sense of touch without extra skins or sensors. With advanced force sensing and deep learning, this robot can feel where you touch, recognize symbols, and even use virtual buttons-paving the way for more natural and flexible human-robot interaction.
[ Science Robotics ]
Thanks, Maged!
The creator of Mini Pupper introduces HeySanta, which can be yours for under $60.
I think humanoid robotics companies are starting to realize that they're going to need to differentiate themselves somehow.
[ DEEP Robotics ]
Drone swarm performances-synchronized, expressive aerial displays set to music-have emerged as a captivating application of modern robotics. Yet designing smooth, safe choreographies remains a complex task requiring expert knowledge. We present SwarmGPT, a language-based choreographer that leverages the reasoning power of large language models (LLMs) to streamline drone performance design.
[ SwarmGPT ]
Dr. Mark Draelos, assistant professor of robotics and ophthalmology, received the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director's New Innovator Award for a project that seeks to improve how delicate microsurgeries are conducted by scaling up tissue to a size where surgeons could walk across the retina" in virtual reality and operate on tissue as if raking leaves."
The intricate mechanisms of the most sophisticated laboratory on Mars are revealed in Episode 4 of the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin series, called Sample Processing."
There's currently a marketplace for used industrial robots, and it makes me wonder what's next. Used humanoids, anyone?
[ Kuka ]
On October 2, 2025, the 10th Can We Build Baymax?" Workshop Part 10: What Can We Build Today? & BYOB (Bring Your Own Baymax) was held in Seoul, Korea. To celebrate the 10th anniversary, Baymax delivered a special message from his character designer, Jin Kim.
[ Baymax ]
I am only sharing this to declare that iRobot has gone off the deep end with their product names: Meet the Roomba(R) Max 705 Combo Robot + AutoWashTM Dock."
[ iRobot ]
Daniel Piedrahita, Navigation Team Lead, presents on his team's recent work rebuilding Digit's navigation stack, including a significant upgrade to footstep path planning.
[ Agility Robotics ]
A bunch of videos from ICRA@40 have just been posted, and here are a few of my favorites.
[ ICRA@40 ]