Watching a hand walk away on its fingers brings to mind Thing from The Addams Family. Heidi Klum brought a gruesome version to life this Halloween with her giant severed-hand costume.

In a Swiss robotics lab, a mechanical hand is taking its own steps toward something more useful.

Researchers at ETH Zurich taught it to walk on its fingertips, get upright after a fall, and press keyboard keys while balancing on its other fingers.