Dollar Finalizes License Agreement for Novel Robotic-Hand Technology

September 9, 2009

The SDM Hand can grasp objects that
vary in size, shape and mass.

Aaron Dollar, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, and Robert D. Howe, Gordon McKay Professor of Engineering at Harvard University's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, finalized a license agreement with Barrett Technology, Inc. for their novel polymer-based robotic-hand technology, known as SDM Hand.

The SDM Hand was created by Dollar and Howe when Dollar was a postdoctoral research associate in Howe’s lab at Harvard. Fingers with flexible joints allow the robotic hand to easily conform to and grasp objects that vary widely in size, shape and mass without exerting excessive force, but while capable of withstanding large impacts without damage.
Barrett Technology expects the first production units to be available by 2011.

Read the press release.