Getting a Grasp on Robotics
From: Medical DeviceLink - 09/30/2009

Equipped with a few sensors and a motor, a robotic hand developed by
researchers at Harvard and Yale Universities gives users the advantage of
picking up a range of objects with the flexibility of a human hand. Each soft
polymer finger has two embedded piezoelectronic sensors that allow the hand
to feel objects and adjust grip accordingly. The sensors were embedded via
shape deposition manufacturing, a process that deposits materials one layer
at a time. This technique enables the placement as well as protection of the
sensors within the material. The device currently uses a power grip to pick
up larger objects, but the researchers would like to add a precision grip,
which would enable users to pick up items like a pen.  

Barrett Technology Inc., a company that specializes in robotic manipulators
(Cambridge, MA), has licensed the technology. Barrett was spun off from MIT's
artificial intelligence lab in 1990.  

Source:
http://www.devicelink.com/mddi/blog/?p=1956

Link:
BarrettHand
http://www.barrett.com/robot/products-hand.htm