This paper presents RBO Hand 2, a highly compliant, underactuated, robust, and dexterous anthropomorphic robotic hand. The hand is inexpensive to manufacture and can be easily adapted to specific applications. It is pneumatically actuated and made of silicone rubber, polyester fibers, and a polyamide scaffold. The hand is capable of dexterous grasping, is easy to build, robust to unanticipated impact, inherently safe, low cost, and easy to control. The hand's design combines dexterous grasping capability with ease of manufacturing, making it well-suited for enabling novel advances in grasping and manipulation.
The hand's design maximizes passive compliance while ensuring sufficient structural support to lift objects. Passive compliance facilitates obtaining force closure in power grasps and aids in using contact with the environment to attain a grasp. These strategies have been shown to increase grasp performance in humans and robots. The hand is evaluated using the Kapandji test, which assesses thumb dexterity. The hand achieves seven out of eight possible points. It is also capable of enacting 31 out of 33 grasp postures from the Feix taxonomy. The hand's postural space is found to be similar to that of humans, and four actuation degrees of freedom suffice to achieve a postural space with more than these four dimensions. This implies that the variability in grasping posture is only partially generated by the hand's actuation, with the remaining variability resulting from interactions between the hand and object.
The hand uses PneuFlex actuators, which are highly compliant, pneumatic continuum actuators. These actuators can be manufactured quickly and use cheap, non-toxic materials. The hand's design allows for a wide range of actuator shapes and sizes, and the use of different silicone types allows for varying shear modulus. The hand's design also enables the implementation of multiple deformation modes or the deliberate mixing of deformation modes.
The hand's dexterity is evaluated by demonstrating its ability to perform a variety of grasp postures. The hand is able to perform 31 out of 33 grasp postures from the Feix taxonomy. The hand's ability to perform these grasps is attributed to its passive compliance and the interactions between the hand and object. The hand's ability to perform these grasps is also supported by its ability to lift objects of reasonable weight. The hand's ability to perform these grasps is also demonstrated in real-world settings, where it is able to perform real-world grasps with appropriate perception and grasp planning skills.
The hand's compliance is shown to be beneficial for dexterous grasping. The hand's ability to perform dexterous grasping is attributed to its passive compliance and the interactions between the hand and object. The hand's ability to perform dexterous grasping is also supported by its ability to lift objects of reasonable weight. The hand's ability to perform dexterous grasping is also demonstrated in realThis paper presents RBO Hand 2, a highly compliant, underactuated, robust, and dexterous anthropomorphic robotic hand. The hand is inexpensive to manufacture and can be easily adapted to specific applications. It is pneumatically actuated and made of silicone rubber, polyester fibers, and a polyamide scaffold. The hand is capable of dexterous grasping, is easy to build, robust to unanticipated impact, inherently safe, low cost, and easy to control. The hand's design combines dexterous grasping capability with ease of manufacturing, making it well-suited for enabling novel advances in grasping and manipulation.
The hand's design maximizes passive compliance while ensuring sufficient structural support to lift objects. Passive compliance facilitates obtaining force closure in power grasps and aids in using contact with the environment to attain a grasp. These strategies have been shown to increase grasp performance in humans and robots. The hand is evaluated using the Kapandji test, which assesses thumb dexterity. The hand achieves seven out of eight possible points. It is also capable of enacting 31 out of 33 grasp postures from the Feix taxonomy. The hand's postural space is found to be similar to that of humans, and four actuation degrees of freedom suffice to achieve a postural space with more than these four dimensions. This implies that the variability in grasping posture is only partially generated by the hand's actuation, with the remaining variability resulting from interactions between the hand and object.
The hand uses PneuFlex actuators, which are highly compliant, pneumatic continuum actuators. These actuators can be manufactured quickly and use cheap, non-toxic materials. The hand's design allows for a wide range of actuator shapes and sizes, and the use of different silicone types allows for varying shear modulus. The hand's design also enables the implementation of multiple deformation modes or the deliberate mixing of deformation modes.
The hand's dexterity is evaluated by demonstrating its ability to perform a variety of grasp postures. The hand is able to perform 31 out of 33 grasp postures from the Feix taxonomy. The hand's ability to perform these grasps is attributed to its passive compliance and the interactions between the hand and object. The hand's ability to perform these grasps is also supported by its ability to lift objects of reasonable weight. The hand's ability to perform these grasps is also demonstrated in real-world settings, where it is able to perform real-world grasps with appropriate perception and grasp planning skills.
The hand's compliance is shown to be beneficial for dexterous grasping. The hand's ability to perform dexterous grasping is attributed to its passive compliance and the interactions between the hand and object. The hand's ability to perform dexterous grasping is also supported by its ability to lift objects of reasonable weight. The hand's ability to perform dexterous grasping is also demonstrated in real