Development of a Two-Finger Haptic Robotic Hand with Novel Stiffness Detection and Impedance Control.

Area of Science:

• Robotics
• Haptics
• Mechatronics

Background:

• Haptic hands and grippers are crucial for precise environmental interaction in surgery, prosthetics, and automation.
• Existing robotic hands can be overly complex or lack dexterity for delicate manipulation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a two-finger robotic hand that balances dexterity and complexity for skillful object manipulation.
• To enhance grasping speed and accuracy by integrating novel sensing and control strategies.

Main Methods:

• Designed a two-finger robotic hand with two degrees of freedom per finger.
• Integrated force-sensitive resistor (FSR) sensors into fingertips for contact detection and object categorization.
• Implemented impedance control by monitoring servomotor currents to manage grasp force across varying object stiffness.

Main Results:

• The robotic hand successfully categorized object stiffness upon initial contact.
• Utilized fused FSR and motor current data to exert accurate grasping forces.
• Demonstrated successful manipulation of a diverse object set (Yale-CMU-Berkeley objects) without damage or dropping.

Conclusions:

• The developed haptic robotic hand offers enhanced object perception and manipulation capabilities.
• This approach represents a significant advancement in creating dexterous and less complex robotic grippers.
• The system shows promise for applications requiring precise and adaptive object handling.