The term myo-electric means that the hand is operated using electric signals from the human brain, much like their flesh and bone counterparts. BeBionic’s hands also work almost as smoothly as human hands:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

They could be a tad faster and smoother, but definitely usable, don’t you think? I wonder what Masamune Shirow thinks of BeBionic’s technology. The hand is set to debut at an exhibition in Leipzig, Germany on May 12-15, so we’ll probably have a lot more info then.

[via BotJunkie]

This means that the robot can be as precise or as delicate as a human hand: it can insert thread into a needle’s eye, or pick up eggs or strawberries without crushing them.

More importantly, it’s relatively easy to control, because it can be programmed to imitate the hand movements of a user wearing the company’s sensor glove, the CyberGlove.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Can you see it now? If you do a thumbs-up, it does a thumbs-up. If you make a fist, it makes a fist. We’re are now that much closer to building Daimos! Now all we need is the rest of the body, a couple of powerful fans and someone who has a black belt in karate, and we’re ready to kick some Valerian ass. Moyase, moyase, makka ni moyase…

[via DVICE and Shadow Robot]

This is pretty basic–as strange as it is to refer to motion controlled gaming as basic–considering this glove is just a holder for an accelerometer, so that the tilt and motion of the player’s hand and wrist is used to manipulate the pieces.

You could also just play WiiWare’s Tetris Party, but that’s fancy Tetris, and sometimes you just want simplicity. Simplicity and a wrist wrapped in wiring.

[Tetris glove via HackADay]

The cool.con remote control fits neatly into the palm of your hand, and features a bumpy exterior that’s designed to provide a pressure-point massage to your hand as you sit on the couch flipping through your favorite channels. They’ve even provided this handy palm reflexology diagram to help you get the greatest phony health benefit out of your channel-surfing experience.

Who knew you could get rid of a stomach ache while you watched Law and Order:SVU? Or that you could fix that case of chronic bronchitis as you flip over to an old re-run of Matlock? Who knew?

Currently, the cool.con controller is available only in Korea, where it’s available through Funshop for 15,500 KRW (appx. $13 USD). Maybe the same guys will come out with a hand-massaging iPhone case – I might actually buy one of those.

Just strap the open-fingered glove around your wrist, put your digits through the fingerholes, and get to stretching the tiny elastic exercise bands. By stimulating hard to isolate finger extensor muscles and tendons in your hands, wrists and elbows, you’ll build up hand strength you never knew you had. All the better to kick your ass in Tekken 6 when it comes out this fall.

And even if you’re not constantly glued to your game console, the Xtensor can help you keep your hands, arms and wrists in shape whether you’re an avid golfer, tennis player, spend your days in front of the computer keyboard, or frequently use your hands for (um) something else (nudge, nudge).

So give your fingers a hand and grab an Xtensor hand exerciser over at ThinkGeek for $39.99 (USD).

[via The Gadgeteer via OhGizmo!]

Brazilian designer Anderson Horta’s Clicking Kitchen Grip oven mitts are inspired by the little pixels of the hand cursor from your computer.

It’s too bad that there’s no way to make version that turns into an hourglass or a spinny beachball while your food is cooking, into an arrow when you can’t pick something up, and a closed hand when you grab your pots and pans. Damned non-virtual world!

Still, they’re pretty cool, IMHO. You can get your grubby little mitts on these anything-but-grubby, not-little mitts from Bazar Design for $24,80 Brazilian Real (appx. $11 USD). You can contact them directly for information on international delivery.

[via Designboom via Inspire me, now!]

Just plug your gadgets into this handy hand crank charger and get to cranking. The SUPERBattery from Datexx lets you juice up your electronic gadgets anywhere, anytime by harnessing the power of your arm strength.

In emergency hand crank mode, the SUPERBattery should give you about 2 minutes of talk time on your phone for every 6 minutes of cranking. My arm is getting tired just thinking about it, but it is probably a good idea to keep something like this in your emergency kit if you go camping or even in the back of your car – just in case you run yourself off the road this Winter. As an added bonus, the SUPERBattery includes a built-in flashlight, just in case you’re stuck in the dark.

Of course if you’re not in an crisis situation, can pre-charge the SUPERBattery with the included AC adapter, giving your devices up to 4 hours of juice on a single charge. The kit includes a hand-cranked 600mA rechargeable battery pack, and adapters for over 1,200 different mobile devices including media players, cell phones and handheld video games.

You can find these over at Compact-Impact for just under $30 USD.

Available from Perpetual Kid, the remote-controlled electroluminescent sign ($40) can be set to display a multitude of digit combinations. You can even animate the fingers in sequence. But there are only a couple of signs that I think would be of much use for most of my roadtrips.

I suppose if you’re more mellow than me, you might tell the a-hole behind you to “hang loose”, or you could flash the subtle “L” sign to let them know what a loser they really are. But who are we kidding? I’m pretty sure most of the time you’ll set it to flip the bird to the driver in your rearview mirror.

Speaking of flipping the bird…

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

There are four cursor sculptures in the series. They are rendered in three dimensions and made more colorful than we’re used to. The designs on the side are fantastically pixelated and lovely to look at.

The sculptures were created by Ben Fino-Radin, and are made of plastic needlepoint canvas and yarn. He is a big fan of combining technology and yarn in interesting ways. You can see more of his work at his website.

Bringing the hand cursor into 3-D and making it pretty huge is super cool in my book. I’d love to have one of these on display in my office!

[via Craft:]

Immersion’s new controller is capable of precisely sensing palm, wrist, arm and individual finger movements and sending that data to a computer (via a 3D tracking device) to either record movements or to control software applications. The glove can interact with their optional software for 3D manipulation of objects in virtual space, or can be programmed to work with custom-developed software through Immersion’s VirtualHand SDK.

Unlike the old NES Power Glove, however, this glove isn’t designed for consumers or casual gamers, rather for use by 3D animators, product designers and for medical and military training applications.

[via OhGizmo!]