Birglen Lionel, Laliberté Thierry, Gosselin Clément. Underactuated Robotic Hands

Springer. Berlin Heidelberg, 2008. — 237 p.— ISBN: 978-3-540-77458-7. Online ISBN: 978-3-540-77459-4.The main contribution of this book is the theoretical analysis of underactuated hands with a particular interest in the distribution of the forces. The pursued approach can be used for a wide range of devices, e.g., compliant fingers, snake-like robots, tentacle manipulators, and others. A solid grasp stability analysis is developed which allows understanding the influence of the design parameters and the contact properties for a number of typical two- and three-phalanx fingers. The principle of underactuation is extended from the fingers to the hand itself, leading to the minimalist design of a mechanical architecture of robotic hands with
a large number of degrees-of-freedom, driven by only one actuator. Remarkably, the theoretical work is supported by the mechanical design of actual prototypes, for which outstanding results have been obtained with a simple controller.Underactuation.
Contributions of the Book.
Overview of the Book.
Grasping vs. Manipulating.
Robotic Hands: Aims and Functions.
Underactuation in Robotic Hands.
Underactuation as a Solution to Grasping.
Literature Review.
Kinetostatic Analysis of Robotic Fingers..General Static Model.
Computation of the Transmission Matrix.
Expressions of the Contact Forces.
Positive Definiteness of the Forces.
Other Transmission Mechanisms.
Double-Stage Mechanism.
Tendon-Pulley Transmission.
Gears.
Da Vinci’s Mechanism.
Comparison.
Less-than-n-phalanx Grasps.
Conclusions.
Grasp Stability of Underactuated Fingers.Grasp Stability of Two-Phalanx Underactuated Fingers.
Grasp Stability for Single Point Contact.
Contact Trajectories.
Equation of the Equilibrium Point.
Linear and Circular Contact.
Application: Synthesis of an Optimally Unstable Finger.
Application: Design Validation.
On the Grasp-State Plane Necessity.
Grasp Stability of Three-Phalanx Underactuated Fingers.
Three-Phalanx Underactuated Fingers Ejection Theory.
Loss of One Contact.
Degeneracy Analysis.
On the Validation Surfaces.
Loss of Two Contacts.
Conclusions.
Optimal Design of Underactuated Fingers.Optimal Design of Two-Phalanx Underactuated Fingers.
Force Properties and Ejection.
Force Isotropic Design.
Guidelines to Prevent Ejection.
Optimal Design of Three-Phalanx Underactuated Fingers.
Force Properties and Ejection.
Dimensional Analysis.
Grasp-Stability Analysis.
Conclusions.
Underactuation between the Fingers.
Introduction Design Solutions.
Movable Pulley.
Seesaw Mechanism.
Fluidic T-Pipe.
Planetary and Bevel Gear Differentials.
Combining Multiple Stages.
Transmission Tree Analysis.
Performance Evaluation of the Transmission Tree.
Exchanging Inputs and Outputs.
Applications.
Underactuated Gripper.
Multiple Pulley Routing.
Serial Routing.
Symmetrical Routing.
Other Transmission Solutions.
The Floating Platform.
The Spring-Loaded Slider.
Conclusions.
Contents XV.
Design and Control of the Laval Underactuated Hands.Design of Laval Underactuated Hands.
Location and Orientation of the Fingers.
Pinch Grasp Mechanism.
The MARS Hand.
The SARAH Hands.
Control and Experimentation of the Laval Underactuated.
Hands.
Hybrid Control of the MARS Hand.
Force Control of the MARS Hand.
Control of the SARAH hands.
Conclusions.Summary and Contributions of the Book.
Perspectives.
MathematicalProofs.
Influence of the Base Joint Spring.
Influence of k1.
Relationship between Proximal and Intermediate Forces.
Transmission Tree Formulae.
Serial Transmission Tree.
Symmetrical Transmission Tree.
References.
Index.