Allegro hand, Wonik Robotics, Seoul, Korea


Allegro Hand playing Rock-Paper-Scissors at S. Korea's Techo-fusion Expo

Published on Mar 26, 2013

Techno-fusion and the Classic Rock-Paper-Scissors: A Robot that Can't Lose!

Modern science, a mixture of various fields from biotechnology and information technology (IT) to mathematics and economics, is entering a new era of growth and convergence. The exhibition, held in Seoul, South Korea, offers a glance at the current state of fusion technologies. This event was covered by YTN journalist Hyeonsang Jeong.

In a Human vs. Robot battle of the worldwide classic Rock-Paper-Scissors, who would win? Unfortunately for us, the robot wins 10 out of 10 times.

Electrodes attached to the forearm of the competing human gather data about which muscles are receiving signals from the brain. In a fusion of biotechnology and IT, these electrical signals can be used to determine the chosen gesture (rock, paper or scissors) 20 milliseconds (0.02s) before the human even moves. This fraction of a second is all the robot needs to have the advantage and to win every time. " [By fusing technologies] you can create new technology that does yet exist. You can discover new principles in both biotechnology and IT. " - Jaebeom Yu, KIST Researcher [translated]


The robotic rock-paper-scissors champion seen above consists of an electrode sensing system, a computer to process the data, and a robotic hand to carry out the winning move. The sensing and processing system was created by Jaebeom Yu, Sinjung Kim and other researchers at the Korean Institute of Science and Technology. The robotic hand (Allegro Hand) was integrated into the system with help from Alex Alspach, an engineer at SimLab Co., Ltd., the company that makes the hand.

As this exhibition hits its fourth year, it calls together more than 70 Korean research institutions combining technologies like IT, telecommunications, environmental science and many others. " Currently, it is difficult to gauge what the future of fusion technology will bring " - Hakyong Shin, Korean Congress, Chairman of Curriculum [translated]

Fusion technologists are looking to collaborate with and take advantage of the technologies being produced at research institutions around the world, attending lectures both at home and abroad. " The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology aims to stress the importance of collaboration and fusion between sciences. We are looking for and planning great challenges for the application of converging technologies. " - Juho Lee, Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology [translated]

This event, presenting a variety of the latest fused-technology applications and solutions was held at the COEX Convention Center in Seoul, South Korea in November, 2012.
 
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