We've been thinking for a while now that it's time to upgrade the whole 'four fingers, one thumb' thing. And, luckily for us, some scarily clever people at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have done something about it.
Engineering professor Harry Asada has developed a robotic glove, which comes complete with an extra pair of elongated 'fingers' either side of your little finger and thumb. A control algorithm lets it move in sync with your hand's movements, meaning you can use it, for example, to open an envelope or a bottle with one hand – simply by moving as you normally would.
In the video below, graduate student Faye Wu demonstrates the device, which Asada wants to become as natural to us as using a knife and fork, or driving a car.
While becoming a half person/ half robot is cool / terrifying in equal measure, the most exciting part about this is Asada's plans for his invention's future. He wants to look at enabling the glove's force to adjust according to how you move your fingers and scaling it down to a third of its current size, meaning you could even wear it without becoming a fully-fledged social outcast.
