Robot Hand System Research Articles

A Moving Robotic Hand System for Whole-Glove Permeation and Penetration: Captan and Nitrile Gloves

The aim of this study was to develop a robotic hand to test the influence of hand movement on the permeation/penetration of captan through disposable nitrile rubber gloves. An available robotic hand was modified to within one standard deviation of the anthropometric 50th percentile male hand. Permeation tests used a nylon inspection glove interposed between medium-size outer and inner nitrile gloves, the latter protected the hand. Permeation of an aqueous emulsion (217 mg/mL) of captan was conducted at 35°C ± 0.7°C. A new surface wipe technique facilitated collection of captan from the inner surface of the exposed nitrile gloves, a technique favored above rinse methods that extracted captan from within the glove. With hand movement, the permeated mass of captan collected after 8 hr ranged from 1.6 to 970 μ g (Brand A) and 8.6 ± 1.2 μ g (Brand B). Without hand movement, the corresponding masses ranged from 1.4 to 8.4 μ g (Brand A) and 11 ± 3 μ g (Brand B). These results were not significantly different at p ≤ 0.05 using parametric and nonparametric statistical tests but indicated that hand movement could influence the precision of permeation (F-test p ≤ 0.05). One glove exhibited failure after 2 hr with movement, in comparison with 0.5 to 9.9 μ g captan with no movement. Hand movement did not appear to significantly affect the permeation of captan through nitrile gloves. However, hand movement did influence physical and/or chemical degradation, resulting in glove failures. The robotic hand simulated normal hand motions, was reliable, and could be used to assess the influence of hand movement on the permeation of nonvolatile components through gloves. Future research should continue to investigate the influence of hand movement and additional work factors on the permeation, penetration, and physical integrity of protective gloves.

Grasping Operation Based on Functional Cooperation of Fingers

When we observe human grasping, some grasping operations consist of multiple cooperative primitive operations. Performing individual movements by different fingers in a grasping operation are generally called “partitioning of fingers.” Our interest is not in the individual movement of each finger, but in functional units of operations constituting entire grasping operations realized by fingers working together. We define such functional unit operation as a “primitive operation.” When one grasping operation consists of multiple cooperative primitive operations and fingers are used in different primitive operations, we call this “functional partitioning of fingers.” By assigning different primitive operations to functional partitioning of fingers, robot can realize various grasping operations. This paper shows that primitive operations can be described in software modules running in multifingered robot hand system, and demonstrates that various grasping operations are achieved by cooperation of primitive operations.

Bilateral control of tele‐hand system with neuro‐fuzzy scheme

Purpose – According to UN estimates more than 2,000 people are killed or maimed every month by land‐mines. Although some mechanical solutions to their removal have been proposed, this is still heavily dependent on human manipulation. This study seeks to posit a robotic solution to this extremely hazardous operation.Design/methodology/approach – Examines an active tele‐operated master‐slave robot hand system in which the master and slave hands have completely different structures.Findings – A secure grasping strategy with a neuro‐fuzzy position control is optional, involving robust position control and accurate force control.Originality/value – To the best of the authors' knowledge, the configuration and control system of the tele‐operation master‐slave robotic hand is novel in the applied robotics research field.

1A1-B28 指の機能的協調に基づく把握操作

We show that various grasping operations with a multi-fingered robot hand can be achieved by cooperation of primitive finger operations. Assuming that several functional units of software modules are running in a robot hand system, we define primitive finger operations in terms of those software modules in order to yield organized operation.

1A1-B35 ロボットハンドのスーパーバイザリ制御 : 物体の安定把持と姿勢制御

This paper proposes a supervisory control system for a multi-fingered robotic hand and provides its control framework. The system consists of master and slave systems. The master system provides an intuitive operationality and can be applied to control of slave robotic hand with different configuration. The closed loop of a slave controller guarantees a secure manipulation without any tactile feedback to an operator. It is easy to manipulate an object even there exists time delay in communication between the master and the slave systems. A unified preshaping (releasing) and pinching controller and orienting controller are proposed for a manipulation in a horizontal plane as a case study. Unification of preshaping and pinching controller avoids undesirable jump phenomena, which may cause unstable behaviors at the transition between preshaping to pinching because of exchange of the controllers. The three experiments are executed to confirm that the slave hand pinches objects and controls their orientation angle easily even time delay exists.

Estimation of hand preshaping during human grasping by using instrumented glove

In this paper a neural network model for spatio-temporal coordination of hand gesture during prehension is proposed. The model includes a simplified control strategy for whole hand shaping during grasping tasks, that provides a realistic coordination among fingers. This strategy uses the increasing evidence that supports the view of a synergistic control of whole fingers during prehension. In this control scheme, only two parameters are needed to define the evolution of hand shape during the task performance. The proposal involves the design and development of a Library of Hand Gestures consisting of motor primitives for finger pre-shaping of an anthropomorphic dextrous hand. Through computer simulations, we show how neural dynamics of the model leads to simulated grasping movements with human-like kinematic features. The model can provide clear-cut predictions for experimental evaluation at both the behavioural and neural levels as well as a neural control system for a dextrous robotic hand.

A neural network model for coordination of hand gesture during reach to grasp

In this paper a neural network model for spatio-temporal coordination of hand gesture during prehension is proposed. The model includes a simplified control strategy for whole hand shaping during grasping tasks, that provides a realistic coordination among fingers. This strategy uses the increasing evidence that supports the view of a synergistic control of whole fingers during prehension. In this control scheme, only two parameters are needed to define the evolution of hand shape during the task performance. The proposal involves the design and development of a Library of Hand Gestures consisting of motor primitives for finger pre-shaping of an anthropomorphic dextrous hand. Through computer simulations, we show how neural dynamics of the model leads to simulated grasping movements with human-like kinematic features. The model can provide clear-cut predictions for experimental evaluation at both the behavioural and neural levels as well as a neural control system for a dextrous robotic hand.

Position and impedance force control of tele-operated master-slave robot hand system

The paper developed a robust position tracking scheme with a neuro-fuzzy inverse model velocity controller of a tele-operated master-slave robot hand system for demining. And by using impedance force control and a two-posture recognition Neural Network (NN) a smooth grasping and releasing action is realized.

Development of a haptic glove to use a master-slave rehabilitation robot hand system

Development of a haptic glove to use a master-slave rehabilitation robot hand system

A posture sequence learning system for an anthropomorphic robotic hand

The paper presents a cognitive architecture for posture learning of an anthropomorphic robotic hand. Our approach is aimed to allow the robotic system to perform complex perceptual operations, to interact with a human user and to integrate the perceptions by a cognitive representation of the scene and the observed actions. The anthropomorphic robotic hand imitates the gestures acquired by the vision system in order to learn meaningful movements, to build its knowledge by different conceptual spaces and to perform complex interaction with the human operator.

Haptic Feedback in Teleoperation of Multifingered Robot Hands

Abstract This paper presents a teleoperated robot hand system with haptic tactile feedback. This system enables an operator to control amulti-fmgered robot hand while feeling interactions of the robot hand with the remote environrent. We have designed a fingertip tactile sensor to capture high resolution and quality tactile images between the fmgertip and the environrent based on the optical total reflection principle. In order to feed back the tactile information to the operator, an electrotactile glove and a haptic display with 24 pins driven by structured DC solenoids have been developed. The haptic glove generates excitations when atouch/contact between the fingertips and the environment occurs. The tactile display can present contact points on the fmger tips. We have integrated the tactile sensor, the haptic glove and the tactile display into afive-fingered hand system and examined their performance and effectiveness by experiments.

711 福祉用人間型ロボットハンドシステムの開発

711 福祉用人間型ロボットハンドシステムの開発

Fast Grasp Planning and Evaluation for Dextrous Manipulation

This paper presents a contact point placement algorithm, which is used in an experimental control system of an industrial robot equipped with a dextrous hand. The algorithm, apart from the geometric model, takes into account other properties of the object, e.g. frictional coefficient, parts of its surface that can be touched, and orientation constraints. Furthermore, it considers the obstales around the object with respect to the position of the robot arm before grasping the object. A two-level robot programming language, which was written for the robot-hand system, is briefly introduced.

Development and Space Operation of Advanced Robotic Hand System

In this paper, we present the development and space test of the world's first precise telerobotic system boarded on an unattended space vehicle, ETS-VII (Engineering Test Satellite VII). The robotic system has features of skill and autonomy using a three-finger multisensory hand at a work site in space and a computer graphics-based desktop telerobotic system at a control site on the ground. We developed a compact robotic system with space environment adaptability and satellite system compatibility as well as dexterity and flexible operability. The robotic system was launched in November 1997. The space test reveals that the system works well in orbit.

A human-like real-time grasp synthesis method for humanoid robot hands

This paper addresses a real-time grasp synthesis of multi-fingered robot hands to find grasp configurations which satisfy the force closure condition of arbitrary shaped objects. We propose a fast and efficient grasp synthesis algorithm for planar polygonal objects, which yields the contact locations on a given polygonal object to obtain a force closure grasp by a multi-fingered robot hand. For an optimum grasp and real-time computation, we develop the preference and the hibernation process and assign the physical constraints of a humanoid hand to the motion of each finger. The preferences consist of each sublayer reflecting the primitive preference similar to the conditional behaviors of humans for given objectives and their arrangements are adjusted by the heuristics of human grasping. The proposed method reduces the computational time significantly at the sacrifice of global optimality, and enables grasp posture to be changeable within 2-finger and 3-finger grasp. The performance of the presented algorithm is evaluated via simulation studies to obtain the force-closure grasps of polygonal objects with fingertip grasps. The architecture suggested is verified through experimental implementation to our developed robot hand system by solving 2- or 3-finger grasp synthesis.

センサ融合テレロボティクスの宇宙における精密作業実験

This paper presents the space test of the ARH (Advanced Robotic Hand System), which is the world's first precise extravehicular robot aboard the satellite“Hikoboshi”. The telerobotic system has features of dexterity, autonomy and flexible operability, using a three-finger multisensory hand at a work site in space and a computer-graphics-based desktop interface at an operation site on the ground. The concept of sensor-fused telerobotics utilizing multisensory information is introduced, and the system is implemented to perform high precision tasks under the barrier of inter-satellite space communication. The robot system was launched into low earth orbit, and the capability of sensor-fused telerobotics was successfully demonstrated in precise in-orbit servicing.

Coordination and Control of Multi-fingered Robot Hands with Rolling and Sliding Contacts

In this paper, the problem of controlling multi-fingered robot hands with rolling and sliding contacts is addressed. Several issues are explored. These issues involve the kinematic analysis and modeling, the dynamic analysis and control, and the coordination of a multi-fingered robot hand system. Based on a hand-object system in which the contacts are allowed to both roll and slide, a kinematic model is derived and analyzed. Also, the dynamic model of the hand-object system with relative motion contacts is studied. A control law is proposed to guarantee the asymptotic tracking of the object trajectory together with the desired rolling and/or sliding motions along the surface of the object. A planning approach is then introduced to minimize the contact forces so that the desired motion of the object and the relative motions between the fingers and the object can be achieved. Simulation results which support the theoretical development are presented.

Realization of Cooperative Transportation by Regrasping Car-like Mobile Robots.

This paper deals with cooperative transportation by a group of car like mobile robots regrasping an object. The authors propose the following approach: (1)designing a robot hand system, end-effector with compliant passive joint set up with offset: (2)robot motion planning by optimizing under constraints of available torque limitation that can be applied to an object. This end-effector enables us to avoid complications with motion planning because of non-holonomic characteristics. It also enables cooperation among robots that have errors in positioning. And torque limitation is considered in order to prevent slipping between the wheels and a floor. The effectiveness of the motion planning algorithm has been verified by transport simulations. Experiment shows that cooperative transportation can be realized.

Precision object manipulation with a multifingered robot hand

This paper outlines several key issues associated with precision manipulation for robot hands. Precision manipulation is defined as the control of a grasped object using fingertip contacts alone. A set of primitive manipulation functions is defined. They are generalizable in the sense that they take parameters for different object geometry, speed, and direction of motion. A single manipulation can be performed with a number of different grasp topologies. With each manipulation there are several associated computations: 1) the trajectories of the contact points can be calculated a priori from knowledge of the desired object motion; 2) a workspace analysis is performed to determine that the manipulation is within the workspaces of all of the fingers simultaneously; and 3) task partitioning is performed to specify force- and position-controlled directions of the contact points. This partitioning controls the grasping forces on the object during the grasping and manipulation phases. The paper also describes how the primitive manipulations can be combined into complex tasks. The complex example of removing a top from a childproof bottle is presented. The manipulations were implemented on a Utah/MIT dextrous robot-hand system.

発現行動型アーキテクチャによるアームロボットの制御

In order to utilize robots in the service fields, such as in offices and in hospitals, the robots should equip the functions for coexisting with human. In this paper, we propose EBBA (Emergent Behavior Based Architecture) for that purpose. EBBA is constructed by behavior modules. And each module can act concurrently by referring inputs from sensors, its object states and its internal states. And the emergent behavior of the system is defined by a certain set of the object states. Therefore, a planner (one of the behavior modules) can control the emergent behavior of the system by refeering and by changing the other modules' object states and internal states. We have implemented a robot hand system by using EBBA. We also shows that the system can perform tasks efficiently by selecting emergent behaviors as the experimental results.