WIRED Editor Amit Katwala traveled far and wide for a hands-on look at the future of robotic artificial limbs. Watch as he puts a wearable set of arms inspired by traditional Japanese puppetry through the paces with Dr. Masahiko Inami at the University of Tokyo. Can Amit intuitively manipulate his newly added arms to pick up objects or write with a marker? Then, we visit with Dani Clode and Tamar Makin at the University of Cambridge to get a grip on the technology behind a 3D-printed sixth digit designed to give you two working thumbs on one hand. Will these robotic augmentations be the path to superhuman performance?
Dani Clode Design / www.daniclodedesign.com / instagram: @dani_clode
The Plasticity Lab / www.plasticity-lab.com / @plasticity-lab.bsky.social
MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, part of Cambridge University: Instagram:@mrccbu / @cambridgeuniversity
Director: Anna O'Donohue
Director of Photography: Thomas Beswick; Giles Cahalane
Editor: Matthew Colby; Anna O'Donohue
Host: Amit Katwala
Expert: Dani Clode; Masahiko Inami; Tamar Makin
Line Producer: Joseph Buscemi
Associate Producer: Paul Gulyas
Production Manager: Alexandra Dawson Herren
Production Coordinator: Ericka Gourgues-Lutran
Assistant Camera: Tokiomi (Toki) Tsuta
Sound Mixer: Skirmantas (Spider) Ivanauskas; Michael Panayiotis
Production Assistant: Grace O'Connor
Post Production Supervisor: Christian Olguin
Post Production Coordinator: Rachel Kim
Supervising Editor: Eduardo Araujo
Assistant Editor: Justin Symonds
Dani Clode Design / www.daniclodedesign.com / instagram: @dani_clode
The Plasticity Lab / www.plasticity-lab.com / @plasticity-lab.bsky.social
MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, part of Cambridge University: Instagram:@mrccbu / @cambridgeuniversity
Director: Anna O'Donohue
Director of Photography: Thomas Beswick; Giles Cahalane
Editor: Matthew Colby; Anna O'Donohue
Host: Amit Katwala
Expert: Dani Clode; Masahiko Inami; Tamar Makin
Line Producer: Joseph Buscemi
Associate Producer: Paul Gulyas
Production Manager: Alexandra Dawson Herren
Production Coordinator: Ericka Gourgues-Lutran
Assistant Camera: Tokiomi (Toki) Tsuta
Sound Mixer: Skirmantas (Spider) Ivanauskas; Michael Panayiotis
Production Assistant: Grace O'Connor
Post Production Supervisor: Christian Olguin
Post Production Coordinator: Rachel Kim
Supervising Editor: Eduardo Araujo
Assistant Editor: Justin Symonds
Category
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TechTranscript
00:00Sometimes we could all use an extra hand. Or thumb.
00:03So here I am with both, testing the capabilities of these wearable robots.
00:07How easy are they to use? Can I hold things?
00:10Will the movements feel natural? What are they for?
00:12And will wearing these make me superhuman?
00:17I'm Amit Katwala, I'm a writer and editor for Wired,
00:20and I've always been fascinated by how technology can enhance human performance.
00:23So when I heard that a team of researchers at the University of Tokyo were working on a set
00:27of wearable robotic arms, I just had to go and find out more.
00:34The design of the arms was inspired in part by traditional Japanese puppetry.
00:38They're intended to enhance human capabilities much like an instrument.
00:42I asked one of the creators of the arms, Professor Masahiko Anami, to tell me more.
00:46This is a small copy of this movement.
00:49So physical computing to avoid the collision.
00:52Also, it's very intuitive. It's easy to understand.
00:56Now, this Puppet Master has sensors to measure joint angle of 5 potentiometers for each arm.
01:03This sensors are sensing signals.
01:05And so based on this signal, the arms are following this motion perfectly.
01:10So the sensors, the data from the sensors goes into the 3D model in the laptop,
01:14and then that then controls the bigger arms.
01:17So the key components of the system are the backpack, the sockets, then the motors in the arm.
01:22Yes.
01:22And then the motors in the wrist.
01:23Yes.
01:24That kind of brings it all together.
01:24Yes. And so each joint is connected with carbon FRP.
01:30So that's almost like the bones of the suit.
01:31Yes, like a bone.
01:32Yeah.
01:33Professor Anami says that the robot arms could one day be used for sport, medicine, or rehabilitation.
01:38We have proposed superhuman sports. Maybe in future, when we attach this type of superhuman wrist,
01:45to play a new type of sport. This is one application.
01:48Also, we are able to find some serious applications like assisting medical surgery.
01:53This hand holds my wrist. So it can also teach me how to move my arm.
02:00So from remote side or from computer side.
02:02It also helps us conducting rehabilitation or also acquiring some new type of skills,
02:07such as martial arts and other things.
02:09Now that I understand the basic mechanics of the suit, it's time to test it out.
02:13So it's pretty heavy. And when I move around, I can kind of feel it moving around behind me,
02:18but it's actually kind of comfortable. I look pretty cool. I look like I've merged with a robot,
02:23which is amazing.
02:26My silhouette looks mental. It's so cool.
02:29Now Professor Anami is going to demonstrate how this all works using the
02:32Puppet Master.
02:33Ease. So it's high.
02:35It's actually kind of high.
02:38This is so cool. I can feel it like vibrating and stuff.
02:40It's quite strange to have these limbs moving around you without your control.
02:44You can kind of hear the shoulders vibrating as they lift the arms up and down.
02:47You can really hear it like whirring and like, you know, you can really hear the motors working as it moves.
02:52I think it really makes you aware of like how much force is being put through just to lift up these arms.
02:58It sounds kind of mechanical, but also like kind of, I don't know, biological.
03:01It's almost like there's some animal like purring back there or something like that.
03:04It's quite unnatural to shake hands with yourself. There we go.
03:07Yeah.
03:08Yeah.
03:08So humans have got this ability called proprioception, which is your ability to know
03:12where your limbs are in space without having your eyes open.
03:14It gives you the ability to touch your nose, for instance, without having your eyes open.
03:18I'm going to see if I can tell where these robotic limbs are with my eyes shut as Professor Anami moves them around.
03:23Okay. I think my left top arm is moving up and down.
03:28I think my bottom right arm is moving.
03:31Okay. I think left and right arms are both moving now.
03:34Maybe it's top left and bottom right.
03:35Okay. I think it's here.
03:41Maybe perfect.
03:46Okay. So I can definitely feel myself leaning this way and I could, I could feel vibrations over my
03:50right shoulder. So I think it's this arm. I think from the way that my body is now angled,
03:55I'm thinking that it's the bottom right arm. So maybe like that.
03:58Yeah, that makes sense. Right. So you can see how off balance I am because like both arms are moving.
04:04And that's like, what, it's like four kilos of extra arm. So it makes sense that I'm kind of
04:08counterbalancing a bit.
04:09Now that I've tried the arms with Professor Anami controlling their movement,
04:12I'm going to try them for myself.
04:14The controller feels very light compared to the arm, which is obviously a lot heavier and feels much more
04:18robust. So I'm being quite careful with how I move it. I feel like I should be...
04:21I'm going to try and touch my nose, see if that works.
04:25Hi. Uh, yeah.
04:27It definitely feels different. I feel like much more like tentative about moving it myself,
04:32actually, like almost got more comfortable with other people moving it around. But with this,
04:35I find I make a sudden motion with my actual hand, I could end up getting, you know, slaps in the face
04:39with a really printed hand, which is not what you'd want.
04:42Finally, I wanted to test how well the robot arms were able to pick up items. My job here was to try
04:47and collaborate with the robot, which was easier for some objects than for others.
04:51We're going to try and grab this little soft bird thing here, level one.
04:58And then I'll take that. Thank you very much. Success!
05:05Next level, we're going to try and pick up this ball. We might need two hands for this one.
05:08All right. Oh, oh, oh, oh. Come on, we can do it.
05:14Yes! Success!
05:22We're going to try and pick up the pen, and then the robot's going to hand me the pen.
05:24I'm going to take the lid off, and then the robot's going to try and write something with the pen.
05:27So you need this gripper here. No! Not success.
05:34That's it. Yes! Yes, yes, yes, yes. No!
05:39Just peep a little bit. I think if you've got it like perfect, there you go.
05:43If you've got it like perfectly centered. Okay, right. Okay, here we go.
05:45Artists, I wouldn't worry about robots taking your job just yet.
05:53Overall, I'm really impressed. And I think with a bit of practice, it could get even better.
05:58And now it's back to London.
06:02After trying the robotic arms in Tokyo, I headed closer to home to Cambridge to meet with Danny
06:07Claude and the team that is working on a third thumb. That's right, a third thumb.
06:13Danny Claude is an augmentation and prosthetics designer at the University of Cambridge's plasticity lab.
06:17Yeah, so this is my third thumb. So starting on the handpiece, there's the thumb, obviously.
06:23So it's a flexible thumb. It's completely 3D printed, and there's kind of three main elements.
06:28It's got a rigid handpiece with flexible straps. And then that's connected to two motors that I wear
06:34on my wrist, very similar position to a watch. And then you can see those are kind of pulling
06:38the third thumb. And that's connected to this wearable up here. This is the battery,
06:43which is replaceable. And then this PCB is wirelessly connected to what I'm wearing
06:47in my shoes and around my ankles. Obviously, I had to try it for myself.
06:51You've got two pressure sensors, one underneath each big toe. And it's just basically a pulley system.
06:55It's a completely flexible 3D print, so it's very compliant. Now press your toes down.
07:00One and each time. Whoa!
07:03Yikes! So that's your left toe. That's so cool.
07:08And then your right toe does a press. Yeah, so I can like move it.
07:11So do, yeah, so give a kind of really, really slow, delicate press.
07:17Yeah, you'll see that there's a proportional control. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
07:19So you have a lot of control over it. Or you can go fast, do a fast, quick press.
07:24Yeah. It's quite powerful, isn't it?
07:26Yeah.
07:27Yeah, it just surprised people.
07:30It's so cool. The speed is controlled by how hard you press down. So that is pretty quick.
07:35And you can do like a bit more of a slower, like more delicate movement. So actually trying to like
07:40move them in tandem and getting the pressure right, I think is going to be a real challenge
07:43of like learning how to use this. On the left foot, I've actually got on quite a good level of
07:47control over the pressure. It's really powerful. Look, you can see it like a squeeze of light.
07:51You can see how much pressure it's putting on the palm of my hand there, look.
07:55Sounds like a little robot or like a little like droid or something from Star Wars.
08:00You can kind of see the 3D printed like corrugation on the inside.
08:02And then these tendons are like super thin. What are they made of, Dani?
08:06It's kind of like a technical fishing line.
08:08Okay, so fishing line, I guess it's strong and light and then like pretty robust.
08:12Now that I know how to control it, I wanted to test out the capabilities of this
08:16robotic thumb. In the team's research, they found that generally people can use it functionally
08:19within the first minute, but to get to those finer motor skills, you need closer to a week.
08:24Task one, ball grip.
08:25The thing to remember is to not use your other fingers, because that's our kind of go-to,
08:28is where we just grip it. Right pressure sensor and then just press and hold.
08:32Yeah, so this is the little practice bit. We'll start here.
08:38Difficulty three out of ten.
08:40So this is our next kind of object task. Pick up as many balls as you can with your
08:44biological hand. Yeah.
08:45And then use the third thumb to pick up the kind of last ball or an extra one.
08:50All right, come back. Maybe four were a little ambitious.
08:53The goal of this test is to determine what the third thumb can do to expand the function
08:56of the hand overall. Difficulty six out of ten.
08:59So I think when the hand is oriented away from you, you don't have that proprioception,
09:03right? You don't know where the hand is situated in space. Whereas obviously with your own
09:07fingers, you know exactly where they are when you're not looking at them. So that's one challenge,
09:10like orienting the hand in relation to the object you're picking up without being able to
09:14see where the thumbs are. That's a bit of a challenge.
09:17Another test is the peg test. It's about getting your whole hand in the right position while using
09:21the thumb, which is something that you normally never have to think about.
09:24That was good. It's really about getting your hand in the right position, which you never
09:27normally have to think about. You just kind of do it. It still feels like, I don't know,
09:30like, you know when you're like holding something with tongs or something like that,
09:32or like, you know, I feel very aware that this thing is not a natural
09:36part of my body. Still happens to be quite deliberate with it.
09:46I would give this a 6 out of 10 for difficulty.
09:49Moving on, I'm going to attempt the Jenga test. The goal with this test is to train the user on
09:53collaborating with another finger. Pick up two blocks, one between two fingers and the other
09:58one between a finger and the third thumb. And then place them here. And then kind of build like this.
10:04Okay. So just two is fine. And then we'll do it with three.
10:12Again, it's that really kind of subtle movement that you need.
10:15That is kind of quite tough. Yeah, nice, nice, nice. And then right foot in.
10:23Oh, almost. And also with your thumb as well, your actual thumb as well.
10:26Yeah, there we go. Yeah, nice. Oh, yeah.
10:32I found the Jenga test really difficult. Without any feedback from the third thumb to tell me how
10:36hard I was pressing, that sense of proprioception that I learned about in Tokyo, it was really tricky
10:40to synchronize my movements with my real thumb. I would give this a 11 out of 10.
10:45So now that we've seen the thumb in action, I wanted to know how using the mechanical third
10:48thumb would affect my brain. In case of any problems, squeeze that buzz, yeah?
10:55Are you going to try it for us? Try the buzzer?
10:57Yeah, just to make sure it works. Okay, once was enough. Thank you.
11:02Tamar Makin is a professor of cognitive neuroscience at Cambridge,
11:05who works with Dani to do research on human augmentation.
11:08We use the thumb in order to introduce participants with completely new ways
11:12to operate with their body in order to do more than they could with just their hands.
11:18We took a look at exactly how my brain was responding to the third thumb.
11:22This is your hand area and the colour tells us that it is activated.
11:27The reason it is activated is probably because you are moving your finger in this scan,
11:33is that true? Are you moving your finger?
11:34I was moving either my toes and my fingers, so in different trials, I was moving my pinkies and my
11:38thumbs in some trials and in some trials I was moving my third thumb and some trials I was moving my toe.
11:43Now let's look what happens when you're using your third thumb.
11:45Yeah.
11:46So this shows us your foot area being activated. You're probably pushing your toes.
11:51But if we zoom back to the hand area, we don't see much activity.
11:56And this is because your brain didn't have to utilise your hands and
12:00pull the muscles of your hands in order to control the thumb.
12:03Yeah.
12:04So see this knob here? This is your hand area, right?
12:07This area would light up when you're using your hand.
12:10When you're using your third thumb, you're not really using your hand, you're using your feet.
12:15So it's going to be the activity within here.
12:18So we have this groove that is crossing along the cortex. We call it the central sarcus.
12:25And this little heel up in front of it is your motor cortex. Well, my motor cortex, this is my brain.
12:32And this one here is the somatosensory cortex. So we control movement with this one.
12:37And then as we move, we're going to get sensory information from the fingers as they're moving,
12:43from the muscles, maybe if I'm touching something. And this is going to come back
12:47here to the somatosensory cortex. So these two parts of the brain work in synchrony with each other.
12:53It's this synchrony that allows you fluent motor control. And right here, just in the middle,
12:59this is like the best piece of real estate you can get in that region is your hand area. And it has
13:05great connections to lots of other brain areas. And it's also very well connected to this part at the
13:11top where your feet are. And I think that's why the toe control works so well, because we have really
13:16good ability to communicate between these two brain areas. If you are smart about the design,
13:22if you can, you know, think about intuitive design, you can make technologies that are plug and play.
13:29The hardest thing about using the thumb was learning to control it. But in the future,
13:33could these robotic limbs be connected directly to your brain via an implanted chip?
13:36At the moment, which is the very first earliest days of this field, I think we want to provide a proof
13:45of concept that, yes, we're very comfortable in our bodies with our five fingers hands. But any
13:52limitations in using extra fingers and arms is a limitation, ultimately, of our imagination as humans.
14:01There are multiple ways that we are currently demonstrating to embed additional body parts
14:07into our bodies, into our brains, into our cognitive awareness. And there is no reason
14:13why we shouldn't redesign the world in order to take better advantage of these technologies.
14:19I'm not sure I need extra arms or another thumb just yet. But the idea of a world where becoming
14:24superhuman is as easy as strapping on a backpack? I give that three thumbs up.
14:31See you guys.
14:34See you.
14:36See you.
14:39Bye.
14:43Bye.
14:45Bye.
14:50Bye.
14:55Bye.
14:56Bye.
14:59Bye.