Abstract

WOODS, Samantha  and  FISHER, Callen. Development of a self-contained robotic hand with dexterous grasping capabilities for research applications. SAIEE ARJ [online]. 2023, vol.114, n.3, pp.87-92. ISSN 1991-1696.

Thumb loss can diminish one's hand's functionality by up to 40% and the loss of one's entire hand can severely impact a person's ability to perform simple day-to-day tasks. Therefore, there exists a need to focus on the development of a thumb mechanism which supports dexterous grasping activities in anthropomorphic robotic hands. This paper documents the design process of a novel robotic hand, and shows experimental results validating its overall performance. A large focus was placed on developing a novel thumb mechanism which could replicate the thumb's characteristic movement types, namely flexion-extension, abduction-adduction, and opposition-reposition. Additional focus was placed on developing a mechanism for flexion-extension movement of the fingers which did not incorporate passive components and on producing a fully self-contained prototype - with the electronics and actuators contained inside the palm, and the power supply inset against the back of the palm. The hand successfully followed motion commands from a sensor glove, and was able to replicate 14 grasp configurations which demonstrated its dexterous grasping abilities.

Keywords : Robotic hand; Thumb mechanism; Grasping experiments.

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