Now, robots that use static electricity to pick up, transport objects

Washington: Experts have recently developed robots that use static electricity to pick up and transport objects, it has been reported.

A robot startup named 'GrabIt' has been making mechanical "hands" that uses electrostatic attraction to gently move boxes, fruits, and iPads, the Verge reported.

Powered electrodes, both on the surface of the gripper or on flexible, tentacle-like fingers, generate and maintain powerful attractive forces between nearly any object.

The technology would not be just used for robot hands. One of the more promising ideas was to build the electrodes into conveyer belts to help sort objects or allow for steeper inclines on manufacturing belts.