• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.29 no.2 s.233
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• pp.176-187
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• 2005

This paper presents an evaluation of joint configurations of a robotic finger based on kinematic analysis. The evaluation is based on an assumption that the current control methods for the fingers require that the contact state specified by the motion planner be maintained during manipulation. Various finger-joint configurations have been evaluated for different contact motions. In the kinematic analysis, the surface of the manipulated object was represented by B-spline surface and the surface of the finger was represented by cylinders and a half ellipsoid. Three types of contact motion, namely, 1) pure rolling, 2) twist-roiling, and 3) slide-twist-rolling are assumed in this analysis. The finger-joint configuration best suited for manipulative motion is determined by the dimension of manipulation workspace. The evaluation has shown that the human-like fingers are suitable for maintaining twist-rolling and slide-twist-rolling but not for pure rolling. A finger with roll joint at its fingertip link, which is different from human fingers, proved to be better for pure rolling motion because it can accommodate sideway motions of the object. Several kinds of useful finger-joint configurations suited for manipulating objects by fingertip surface are proposed.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.99-104
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• 2009

This article describes the analysis of stable grasping for multi-fingered robot. An analysis method of stable grasping, which is based on the three-dimensional acceleration convex polytope, is proposed. This method is derived from combining dynamic equations governing object motion and robot motion, force relationship and acceleration relationship between robot fingers and object's gravity center through contact condition, and constraint equations for satisfying no-slip conditions at every contact points. After mapping no-slip condition to torque space, we derived intersected region of given torque bounds and the mapped region in torque space so that the intersected region in torque space guarantees no excessive torque as well as no-slip at the contact points. The intersected region in torque space is mapped to an acceleration convex polytope corresponding to the maximum acceleration boundaries which can be exerted by the robot fingers under the given individual bounds of each joints torque and without causing slip at the contacts. As will be shown through the analysis and examples, the stable grasping depends on the joint driving torque limits, the posture and the mass of robot fingers, the configuration and the mass of an object, the grasp position, the friction coefficients between the object surface and finger end-effectors.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.179-185
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• 2015

The versatility of a human hand is what the researchers eager to mimic. As one of the attempt, the redundant degree of freedom in the human hand is considered. However, in the force domain the redundant joint causes a control issue. To solve this problem, the force control method for a redundant robotic hand which is similar to the human is proposed. First, the redundancy of the human hand is analyzed. Then, to resolve the redundancy in force domain, the artificial minimum energy point is specified and the restoring force is used to control the configuration of the finger other than the force in a null space. Finally, the method is verified experimentally with a commercial robot hand, called Allegro Hand with a force/torque sensor.