Robotic Nation Evidence

The Shadow Dextrous Hand :



The hand is powered by compressed air. According to the company: "The Hand is driven from a block of Air Muscles mounted behind the Hand on the 'forearm'", in a manner similar to the human hand (which is also driven by muscles in the forearm). It is quite flexible -- the thumb alone, for example, has five degrees of freedom. "Each joint is sensed individually by Hall effect, with typical accuracy 0.2 degrees."

This paper offers a more detailed description and more photos (including a photo of the air muscles).