BGS pupil Jared has recently attracted significant media attention, including an article in New Scientist, for his impressive technological achievement: building a fully functional robotic hand out of Lego. Jared and his dad were interviewed last week at school by BBC Points West, and it was great to see them featured on the news over the weekend.
Inspired by his father’s robotics research at the University of Bristol, Jared has been developing the project for almost two years. His hard work culminated in a trip to China, where he presented his creation at a robotics conference and received enthusiastic praise.
Jared’s device takes inspiration from cutting-edge robotic hands such as the Pisa/IIT SoftHand yet it is built entirely from off-the-shelf Lego Mindstorms, an educational kit designed for creating programmable robots. The design can be reproduced using only household tools and pieces from these kits, making it one of the most accessible demonstrations of soft-robotic principles to date.
The hand operates using two motors and a system of tendons. Each of its four fingers has three joints, and a differential made from Lego clutch gears links the digits. This allows the fingers to move together until they make contact with an object, then naturally stop, much like a human hand when grasping. The simplicity of the mechanism makes the project both educational and Jared hopes that it will inspire other children who are curious about engineering and the exciting world of robotics.
Although Lego discontinued the Mindstorms line in 2022, Jared explains that the design remains adaptable. “The way that I implemented the motors, they can easily be taken off, and newer motors can be added,” he says. He is already exploring possible upgrades and plans to continue developing his concept in the future.
