A light weight compliant hand mechanism with high degrees of freedom

Jason Potratz, Jingzhou Yang, Karim Abdel-Malek, Esteban Peña Pitarch, Nicole Grosland

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

14 Scopus citations

Abstract

This paper presents the design and prototyping of an inherently compliant lightweight hand mechanism. The hand mechanism itself has 15 degrees of freedom and five fingers. Although the degrees of freedom in each finger are coupled, reducing the number of independent degrees of freedom to 5, the 15 degrees of freedom of the hand could potentially be individually actuated. Each joint consists of a novel flexing mechanism that is based on the loading of a compression spring in the axial and transverse direction via a cable and conduit system. Currently, a bench top version of the prototype is being developed; the three joints of each finger are coupled together to simplify the control system. The current control scheme under investigation simulates a control scheme where myoelectric signals in the wrist flexor and extensor muscles are converted in to x and y coordinates on a control scheme chart. Static load-deformation analysis of finger segments is studied based on a 3-dimensional model without taking the stiffener into account, and the experiment validates the simulation.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)934-945
Number of pages12
JournalJournal of Biomechanical Engineering
Volume127
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 2005

Keywords

  • Compliant Lightweight Mechanism
  • Hand Mechanism
  • High Degree of Freedom

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