Tick another development off the list of advances required before robots take over the world: hands that work just like the human variety. Some researchers at Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) have unwittingly brought our inevitable demise that much closer with a multifingered hand designed for man-size robots. Previous attempts at, uh, man hands have been too weak to be really useful, but the new AIST model can exert the same force as a normal hand, while mechanisms that reduce "backlash" give precise control over the fingertips. Which means before our future robot servants rise up against us, they'll be ironing our shirts pretty flawlessly. A round of applause, please. — Peter Pachal

AIST (Japanese), via Engadget and Pink Tentacle