[Animats]

There's a standard test for this: The O'Connor Tweezer Dexterity Test.[1] There's a board with small holes, a supply of metal pins, and a tweezer for putting pins in the holes. It's overpriced, because it's "medical".

Some electronics assembly plants use such a test to screen new hires.

Tweezer dexterity improves with practice. Hands are more precise than vision. Looking through a microscope, you can position something within a thousandth of an inch with tweezers. This is familiar to anyone who's placed surface mount parts on a board by hand.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/s?k=tweezer+dexterity+test

[pugworthy]

The toy used in the study is a lot cheaper - about $15. See https://www.johnlewis.com/john-lewis-buzzwire-game/p4349607

I was really expecting to see it was the classic “Operation“ game when I first saw mention in the paper.