Grant: Canada Research Chairs

The human hand is a remarkable piece of engineering. We humans can reach out and grasp objects with exquisite accuracy - far better than any robot. One of the things that make this possible is our keen sense of sight. Prof. Mel Goodale and his team are studying the different kinds of information that our visual system uses to guide the hand as it reaches out and grasps an object and how that information differs from that used to identify objects and recognize scenes. Prof. Goodale also uses functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to explore which parts of the brain are involved ineye-hand coordination and visual recognition. This work is not only providing basic information about how vision is used to control the human hand but is also helping in the design of better systems for controlling robot hands.