• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
• /
• v.29 no.1 s.232
• /
• pp.1-13
• /
• 2005

Kinematics of grasping and manipulation by a multi-fingered robotic hand where multi-fingertip surfaces are in contact with an object is solved. The surface of the object was represented by B-spline surfaces in order to model the objects of various shapes. The fingers were modeled by cylindrical links and a half ellipsoid fingertip. Geometric equations of contact locations have been solved for all possible contact combinations between the fingertip surface and the object. The simulation system calculated joint displacements and contact locations for a given trajectory of the object. Since there are no closed form solutions for contact or intersection between these surfaces, kinematics of grasping was solved by recursive numerical calculation. The initial estimate of the contact point was obtained by approximating the B-spline surface to a polyhedron. As for the simulation of manipulation, exact contact locations were updated by solving the contact equations according to the given contact states such as pure rolling, twist-rolling or slide-twist-rolling. Several simulation examples of grasping and manipulation are presented.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
• /
• v.29 no.2 s.233
• /
• pp.176-187
• /
• 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 the Ergonomics Society of Korea
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.83-100
• /
• 1997

The Human Sensory Feedback Laboratory, park of the Armstrong Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is involved in the development and evaluation of systems that provide sensory feedback to the human operator in telerobotic and virtual environment applications. Specific projects underway in the laboratory are primarily concerned with the information provided by force and vibrotactile feedback to the operator in dextrous manipulation tasks. Four specific research projects are described in the present report. These include : 1) experiments evaluating a 30-element fingertip display, which employs a titanium-nickel shape memory alloy actuator design to provide vibrotactile feedback about object shape and surface texture ; 2) of a fingertip force-feedback display for 3-dimensional information about object shape and suface texture ; 3) use of a force- feedback joystic to provide "force tunnel" information in pilot pursuit tracking tasks ; and 4) evaluations of a 7 degree-of-freedom exoskeleton used to control a robotic arm. Both basic and applied research questions are discussed.