The Aporia · Creepy walking robo-hand brings ‘Addams Family’ to life. ‘Could make future bots more versatile.’

Creepy walking robo-hand brings ‘Addams Family’ to life. ‘Could make future bots more versatile.’

Read the original at New York Post ↗

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APA MLA Chicago

Cost, B. (2026, September 28). Creepy walking robo-hand brings ‘Addams Family’ to life. ‘Could make future bots more versatile.’. New York Post. https://nypost.com/2026/09/28/tech/disembodied-robo-hand-straight-out-of-addams-family/

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

Quick Summary

Swiss scientists from ETH Zurich’s Soft Robotics Lab created an autonomous robotic hand inspired by The Addams Family character, The Thing. This mechanical hand can walk on various surfaces and perform tasks such as moving objects and typing. It features a battery, onboard computer, and sensors allowing it to navigate different terrains and interact with its environment independently. While the technology shows promise for assisting people with limited mobility, practical applications are still in development due to limitations like short battery life.

Written by AI on 2026-09-28, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

A team from ETH Zurich’s Soft Robotics Lab in Switzerland has developed a mechanical hand capable of autonomous movement and fine motor skills, inspired by The Addams Family's disembodied butler. This creepy yet versatile robotic hand can walk on different surfaces, type on keyboards, and even right itself if knocked over. According to Fast Company, the project aims to create machines with independence outside a larger body framework, which could aid people with mobility issues. In their paper published in Axriv, researchers state that this innovation “could move toward a control or object, interact with it, and return for retrieval,” suggesting potential applications in assisting individuals who struggle with reaching or grasping objects.

Written for “Robotic Hand Innovation” on 2026-10-31, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

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Claims extracted

sentences that state something as happening or true

Uncertain

21%

3 of 14 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")

Leaning

not political

takes no side on a contested political question

Publisher signals

66/100

New York Post's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.

Outlets on this story

Technology

Same framing elsewhere

articles that frame the event the way this one does

Who wrote this

Ben Cost

36 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction

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2026-10-21 · assertive framing · Meta’s Muse AI leaves users vulnerable to identity theft through simple security flaw — with over 6,800 links exposed: report

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2026-10-16 · assertive framing · Apple users furious after iPhone Duo order delayed until 2027 amid preorder scramble

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2026-10-15 · assertive framing · ‘Space tsunamis’ reveal where solar storms will strike next — and the countries most threatened with power grid failure

🔮 While humans might be mostly to blame for Antarctica’s snow melt, scientists are pointing to another surprising source of the a-thaw-calypse — penguin poop.

2026-10-13 · mixed framing · Too much penguin poop in Antarctica is accelerating snow melt and rising sea levels: scientists

Also by Ben Cost

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2026-10-26 · New York Post

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2026-10-23 · New York Post

Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.

All 36 articles by Ben Cost →

Narrative

Claims (14 extracted, 3 hedged)

A team of Swiss robo-scientists has made a creepy mechanical hand that can scuttle along different surfaces like the love child of The Terminator and “Addams Family” sidekick, The Thing. asserted

that → make → Terminator

The research team from ETH Zurich’s Soft Robotics Lab admitted they were inspired by Morticia’s disembodied butler, Fast Company reported. asserted

Company → admit → butler

And much like its movie counterpart, this anthropomorphic appendage can perform a variety of fine motor movements, ranging from moving blocks to typing on a keyboard, as demonstrated in a video tutorial. asserted

appendage → perform → tutorial

Knock the cyborg hand over and it can even right itself like a giant cybernetic hermit crab. asserted

it → knock → crab

But what’s the point of an automated hand, besides pranking your friends on Halloween? asserted

point → ’ → Halloween

Robotics engineer Amirhossein Kazemipour told FC that it was about creating a machine with “some independence” outside of a larger body — and potentially giving independence to people with difficulties reaching or grasping objects, too. asserted

it → tell → objects

In their new paper in the journal Axriv, Kazemipour and the other researchers wrote that the hand “could move toward a control or object, interact with it, and return for retrieval.” uncertain

hand → write → retrieval

They added, “Giving robotic hands their own mobility could make future robots more versatile in the spaces and interfaces built for people.” uncertain

robots → add → people

The researchers didn’t specify the exact tasks the robo-hand would be completing, although tech-sperts suspect that the gadget could be used to enhance life-size droids, Futurism reported. uncertain

Futurism → specify → droids

The Cyber-Thing contains a battery, an onboard computer and multiple sensors that allowed it to interface with a complex environment. asserted

it → contain → environment

That lets the creepy robo-crawler navigate complex terrain ranging from grass to stone, all at a steady speed. asserted

crawler → let → speed

Most impressively, the hand became a retro gaming prodigy, using its fast fingers to ace the classic arcade puzzle Sokoban. asserted

hand → become → puzzle

But the hand has a ways to go before performing brain surgery or mastering a Rachmaninoff piano concerto. asserted

hand → have → concerto

For one thing, it’s battery life is still in development — which means after a few hours, it’s palms away. asserted

it → mean → hours

Creepy walking robo-hand brings ‘Addams Family’ to life. ‘Could make future bots more versatile.’

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Claims (14 extracted, 3 hedged)