For only $22,500 you can own the robotic hand shown in the video above. That’s nothing for a piece of NASA history.

This impressive early prototype demands an important place within robotics history as the first motorized dexterous robotic hand. It represents one of the early steps towards making robots more anthropomorphic. The Omni-Hand was designed and built in the early 1990s by robot pioneer Mark Rosheim with funding from NASA contracts NAS8-37638 and NAS8-38417. Two prototypes were made. The first was a “test bed” whose features were then incorporated into this complete unit. Both had the same power and control system.

The more I watch the video above, the more I’m amazed that it was developed in the early ’90s. It seems that if it had artificial skin while holding that ostrich egg, it would make headlines even today. [ebay via luxarylaunches]