Simulation-based tools for evaluating underactuated hand designs

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Abstract
This paper presents a tool aimed at the design of compliant, under-actuated hands. The particular motivation is hands that will be used for an underwater robot to grasp a variety of objects, some of which may be delicate or slippery. The focus of the analysis is the problem of object acquisition. In comparison to many prior grasp analysis tools, the tool presented here models the dynamics of a hand, including actuation mechanisms, compliance and friction in an efficient formulation that permits one to evaluate variations in such quantities as phalange length, finger spacing, transmission ratios, and torsional joint stiffness when comparing hand designs. The analysis is demonstrated for a quasi-static object acquisition problem and leads to the computation of a vector space of three dimensional regions for which the hand will tend to center and stably grasp a compact object.

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