Latest / The Robotics Podcast with Fexingo: Autonomous Systems, Industrial Robots, and Hardware
Why Robot Arms Still Cant Handle a Paperclip
Lucas and Luna explore why a simple paperclip remains a formidable challenge for robot hands. They break down the physics of spring steel deformation, the limitations of gripper design, and how tactile sensing struggles with small, irregular objects. Lucas cites a 2025 IEEE study on micro-part manipulation that showed robots fail 94% of the time when picking up a standard No. 1 paperclip. They discuss why this matters for electronics assembly and medical device manufacturing, and hear from a researcher at the National Robotics Lab who calls it 'the quintessential edge case.' A…
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