Evil robots now have delicate touch.

Are we now breeding robotic stealth assassins?? From National Geographic:

As far as robot dexterity goes, RAPHaEL may just have the upper hand.

The air-powered machine, created by undergraduate students at Virginia Tech's Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory, can gently grasp a raw egg as successfully as the machine holds a heavy can of food—and is flexible enough for sign language.

RAPHaEL (Robotic Air-Powered Hand with Elastic Ligaments) is connected to a compressed air tank. An operator controls the air pressure to manipulate the fingers.

For instance, low air pressure lightens the grip, and higher air pressure makes it firmer.

But what makes RAPHaEL unique is the students' decision not to control each finger joint individually but instead use one actuator, or motion activator, to move all of a finger's joints.