Frustrated by Having Too Few Hands? Youbionic Can Fix That!

Like most people, you almost certainly spend some of your day wallowing in the knowledge that you only have, at most, two hands. That shortage quickly proves its inadequacy the first time you try to carry three beers back to your table at the local pub. But, while your grandparents had to settle for making two trips, we now live in a high tech world that can fix this troubling shortcoming of the human body.

Youbionic is approaching this by turning one of your sad human hands into a pair of robotic hands. The device, called Double Hand, straps onto your wrist and splits off into two prosthetic hands. Wearers can control Double Hand using flex sensors that are affixed to your natural index and ring fingers. Closing your hand (or just those fingers) causes the robotic hands to close as well—hopefully on something you want to pick up.

The whole system works with parts we see often: an Arduino provides logic and control, actuators handle movement, flex sensors trigger that movement, and the physical parts are all 3D printed. There aren’t many details available about the actual specifications of Double Hand, such as gripping force or overall capabilities. It seems squarely aimed at hackers and makers who plan to tinker with it.

You can purchase the Youbionic Double Hand now for €1,799 (about $2,150 USD). But, you have to ask yourself why you would. Youbionic is advertising the Double Hand as a step forward in human augmentation, but that’s a lot of cash to shell out for a device that’s usefulness seems questionable.