How it began
The Belgrade Hand was developed in 1963 at the Mihajlo Pupin Institute in Belgrade. It was the work of Rajko Tomovic, who was part of the institute before becoming a professor at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the University of Belgrade, together with Miodrag Rakic. Tomovic is officially credited with the first artificial hand with five fingers. It was designed for medical use, as a prosthetic replacement for a lost hand.
How it works
The hand runs on a single electric motor powered from outside the hand. Finger movements are controlled through a sensor feedback system, and myoelectric signals are picked up from a healthy part of the arm of the user. Its structure is adaptable, which lets the fingers close around and hold objects of arbitrary shape. Although intended as a prosthesis, it reproduced human-like manipulative movements and so drew the interest of roboticists.
How it spread
In the 1980s Tomovic worked with the roboticist George Bekey at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Bekey and his team added sensors, motors and control systems to improve reliability. The resulting Belgrade/USC hand was regarded as one of the most capable robotic grasping devices of its time. Tomovic also promoted a version with colleagues from Novi Sad and Belgrade.
What lasted
The Pupin Institute describes the device as the first bionic hand made for medical use and as the first artificial hand able to replicate human-like manipulation in robotics. The later Bekey and Tomovic versions became landmarks in the history of robotic hands. In 1972 Tomovic, assisted by Miomir Vukobratovic and his team, also built an exoskeleton in Belgrade for people with walking disabilities.
Where it stands today
One of the original Belgrade Hands is on display at the Museum of Science and Technology in Belgrade, and others are held in collections around the world. Another account places original hands in a robotics museum in Boston. The Pupin Institute presented the story of the hand on a Euronews program in March 2025.
