Study on multi-fingered manipulation for real tasks

Abstract

The development of robot technology in recent years has realized the automation in many areas and is further expanding its application. The attempts are being made to expand the application area from special works to more general works which so far necessitated human operation. In this area, the role of the manipulator is very important. A manipulator has so far been imaged as a human arm, at which field studies have been aimed for manipultors. Considering the elements of tasks, however, the main roles of an arm are sending and guiding objects, and therefore it completes tasks using various end effectors (hands) as necessary. This means that particularly efficient systems are available for dedicated works, but on the other hand, if a work has multi-purpose or exceptional elements regardless of their ranges, it needs a number of end effectors, which may lead to a denial of the system itself. Consequently, excellent manipulators to carry out tasks naturally need excellent hands. Although some studies have been made on hands, their interests have not been beyond the multi-linked manipulators. This has been owed partly to their interests, but it has also resulted from a dearth of highly developed hands with which to work. We are happy to have had a breakthrough for this problem at the large scale project 'Research and Development of the Advanced Robot (1983-1990)' of Agency of Industrial Science and Technology, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry. This report is to introduce some points for multi-purpose works and the solutions we had from the project.