Cars and trucks are popping up with some crazy technology these days and General Motors is one of the industry-leading innovators behind these new features. But GM hasn’t just limited itself to cars over the years. The Detroit giant has actually partnered with NASA on several projects since the 1960s, helping create technology to make space exploration easier. Recently GM and NASA partnered up again, this time creating a robotic glove to help both astronauts and auto industry workers. If you’ve ever wanted to be bionic, this might be your chance.

NASA's R2 robots with human-like hand dexterity.

Back in the 1960s, GM partnered with NASA to help come up with the navigation systems for the Apollo missions. GM’s history has been steeped with partnering with the air and space exploration association for key technologies ever since, helping develop the first vehicle used on the moon, the Lunar Rover Vehicle, and most recently NASA’s Robonaut 2 (R2), a robot that works along side astronauts in space and auto factory workers with the hand dexterity of a human.

The technology for the Human Grasp Assist device, also known as the Robo-Glove or K-glove came from the development of R2’s hands.

The robotic astronaut was built to be able to use tools and perform basic tasks like humans, so hand dexterity was key. The GM and NASA team that built R2 achieved this using tendons, leading-edge sensors and actuators comparable to the components that make up the human hand.

The newly created Robo-Glove also uses these technology advances. The upper portion of the glove is fitted with actuators to help a human user grasp things better. Pressure sensors on the finger tips sense when a user is holding a tool, causing the tendons in the glove to retract into a grasping position. This technology helps users work with less hand stress.

“When fully developed, the Robo-Glove has the potential to reduce the amount of force that an auto worker would need to exert when operating a tool for an extended time or with repetitive motions,” Dana Komin, GM’s manufacturing engineering director, Global Automation Strategy and Execution was quoted as saying by GM News. “In so doing, it is expected to reduce the risk of repetitive stress injury.”

The original prototype for the Robo-Glove was developed back in March of 2011 with the second generation prototype being developed in June. Powered by a separate lithium battery clipped to the users belt, the current gloves weigh about 2 pounds each, but a third-generation prototype is in the works to reduce the gloves’ size and weight.

The new Robo-Glove is a much needed development to keep working conditions here and in space safer and more ergonomic. The Robo-Glove is set to hit auto industry assembly lines in the near future.