Chapter 6 - Approaching Human Hand Dexterity Through Highly Biomimetic Design

Abstract

A wide range of research areas, from telemanipulation in robotics to limb regeneration in tissue engineering, could benefit from an anthropomorphic robotic hand that mimics the salient features of the human hand. The challenges of designing such a robotic hand are mainly resulted from our limited understanding of the human hand from an engineering point of view and the ability to replicate important biomechanical features with conventional mechanical design. We believe that the biomechanics of human hand is an essential component of hand dexterity and can be replicated with a highly biomimetic design. To this end, we reinterpret the important biomechanical advantages of the human hand from a roboticist's perspective and design a biomimetic robotic hand that closely mimics its human counterpart with artificial joint capsules, crocheted ligaments and tendons, laser-cut extensor hood, and elastic pulley mechanisms. We experimentally identify the workspaces of the fingertips and successfully demonstrate that our proof-of-concept design can be teleoperated to grasp and manipulate daily objects with a variety of natural hand postures based on hand taxonomy.