Detection and Tele-replication of Human Hand Motions by a Robotic Hand

Abstract

This paper presents a tele-operated robotic hand controlled by replication of human hand motions and is focused on the description of technical solutions for detection and tele-replication of movements, in order to control a robotic hand. The purpose of such research is justified by the need of high precision human controlled operations in special environments. The system is based on a flex sensors set with processing units and has as effectors a robotic arm and an anthropomorphic hand. The current article displays the modality of achieving an anthropomorphic robotic arm capable of efficiently handling objects of different sizes. In order to implement and test the technical and computing solutions, the authors have used a commercial product as experimental platform and improved it both in its mechanical structure and in its command and control system. For implementing the motion algorithms of the robotic arm, a method was developed for decoding arm movements performed by a human operator. To this end, bending sensors placed at the human operator’s joints (shoulder, elbow, wrist and fingers) were used. Signals collected from the sensors during the realization of these different movements by the human operator were decoded, processed and implemented in the drive system corresponding to the anthropomorphic robotic arm. In this regard, all sets of complex movements by the human arm operator were duplicated and implemented in the anthropomorphic robotic arm. The results obtained in handling various objects by means of using the anthropomorphic robotic arm have certified the effectiveness of this method.