A Single-Actuated, Cable-Driven, and Self-Contained Robotic Hand Designed for Adaptive Grasps

Developing a dexterous robotic hand that mimics natural human hand movements is challenging due to complicated hand anatomy. Such a practical design should address several requirements, which are often conflicting and force the designer to prioritize the main design characteristics for a given appli...

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Main Authors: Negin Nikafrooz, Alexander Leonessa
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2021-09-01
Series:Robotics
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2218-6581/10/4/109
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author Negin Nikafrooz
Alexander Leonessa
author_facet Negin Nikafrooz
Alexander Leonessa
author_sort Negin Nikafrooz
collection DOAJ
description Developing a dexterous robotic hand that mimics natural human hand movements is challenging due to complicated hand anatomy. Such a practical design should address several requirements, which are often conflicting and force the designer to prioritize the main design characteristics for a given application. Therefore, in the existing designs the requirements are only partially satisfied, leading to complicated and bulky solutions. To address this gap, a novel single-actuated, cable-driven, and self-contained robotic hand is presented in this work. This five-fingered robotic hand supports 19 degrees of freedom (DOFs) and can perform a wide range of precision and power grasps. The external structure of fingers and the thumb is inspired by Pisa/IIT SoftHand, while major modifications are implemented to significantly decrease the number of parts and the effect of friction. The cable configuration is inspired by the tendon structure of the hand anatomy. Furthermore, a novel power transmission system is presented in this work. This mechanism addresses compactness and underactuation, while ensuring proper force distribution through the fingers and the thumb. Moreover, this power transmission system can achieve adaptive grasps of objects with unknown geometries, which significantly simplifies the sensory and control systems. A 3D-printed prototype of the proposed design is fabricated and its base functionality is evaluated through simulations and experiments.
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spelling doaj.art-9e4a323810fa45c2bbc63d666aa199832023-11-23T10:26:40ZengMDPI AGRobotics2218-65812021-09-0110410910.3390/robotics10040109A Single-Actuated, Cable-Driven, and Self-Contained Robotic Hand Designed for Adaptive GraspsNegin Nikafrooz0Alexander Leonessa1Department of Mechanical Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USADepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USADeveloping a dexterous robotic hand that mimics natural human hand movements is challenging due to complicated hand anatomy. Such a practical design should address several requirements, which are often conflicting and force the designer to prioritize the main design characteristics for a given application. Therefore, in the existing designs the requirements are only partially satisfied, leading to complicated and bulky solutions. To address this gap, a novel single-actuated, cable-driven, and self-contained robotic hand is presented in this work. This five-fingered robotic hand supports 19 degrees of freedom (DOFs) and can perform a wide range of precision and power grasps. The external structure of fingers and the thumb is inspired by Pisa/IIT SoftHand, while major modifications are implemented to significantly decrease the number of parts and the effect of friction. The cable configuration is inspired by the tendon structure of the hand anatomy. Furthermore, a novel power transmission system is presented in this work. This mechanism addresses compactness and underactuation, while ensuring proper force distribution through the fingers and the thumb. Moreover, this power transmission system can achieve adaptive grasps of objects with unknown geometries, which significantly simplifies the sensory and control systems. A 3D-printed prototype of the proposed design is fabricated and its base functionality is evaluated through simulations and experiments.https://www.mdpi.com/2218-6581/10/4/109robotic handcable-driven mechanismadaptive graspunderactuation
spellingShingle Negin Nikafrooz
Alexander Leonessa
A Single-Actuated, Cable-Driven, and Self-Contained Robotic Hand Designed for Adaptive Grasps
Robotics
robotic hand
cable-driven mechanism
adaptive grasp
underactuation
title A Single-Actuated, Cable-Driven, and Self-Contained Robotic Hand Designed for Adaptive Grasps
title_full A Single-Actuated, Cable-Driven, and Self-Contained Robotic Hand Designed for Adaptive Grasps
title_fullStr A Single-Actuated, Cable-Driven, and Self-Contained Robotic Hand Designed for Adaptive Grasps
title_full_unstemmed A Single-Actuated, Cable-Driven, and Self-Contained Robotic Hand Designed for Adaptive Grasps
title_short A Single-Actuated, Cable-Driven, and Self-Contained Robotic Hand Designed for Adaptive Grasps
title_sort single actuated cable driven and self contained robotic hand designed for adaptive grasps
topic robotic hand
cable-driven mechanism
adaptive grasp
underactuation
url https://www.mdpi.com/2218-6581/10/4/109
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AT neginnikafrooz singleactuatedcabledrivenandselfcontainedrobotichanddesignedforadaptivegrasps
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