Getting a Grip
From: Technolgoy Review - Nov/Dec 2009 - page 85
By: Erica Naone and Kristina Grifantini

Researchers at Columbia University have developed control algorithms for
robotic hands - motorized grippers with three, four, or five fingers - that
reduce the number of calculations required for the devices to grasp an
object. Using the algorithms, a robotic hand was able to grasp a wide variety
of objects, including a wine glass, a telephone, and an ashtray. 

The advance could make robotic hands for prosthetics more useful by enabling
them to grasp objects more quickly. The hand could be attached to a
prosthetic arm, which the user would maneuver into place. As the hand neared
an object, the system would position the fingers for the best possible grip.
The person would then only have to push a button to trigger the hand to close
around the object. 

Read the entire article at:
http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/23717/?a=f

Links:
Hand Posture Subspaces for Dexterous Robotic Grasping 
http://ijr.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/28/7/851

GraspIt!
http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~cmatei/graspit/