Innovation of the week: A robot glove that strengthens your grip

The Roboglove will transform how hands perform.

published 16 July 2016

"A motor-assisted glove designed to let astronauts carry out mechanical repairs without suffering muscle fatigue is making its way to Earth," said James Vincent at The Verge. The RoboGlove, developed by NASA and General Motors in 2012, enhances the strength of the wearer's grip via synthetic tendons that mimic the muscles of the human hand.

The technology has now been licensed to Swedish medical tech company Bioservo Technologies, which will develop business applications for the product ranging from medical rehabilitation to manufacturing. NASA explains: "An assembly operator in a factory might need to use 15 to 20 pounds of force to hold a tool during an operation. But with the robotic glove they might need to apply only 5 to 10 pounds of force." GM says it already has plans try out the RoboGlove with workers in its own factories.