Design and Grasping Experiments of Soft Humanoid Hand with Variable Stiffness

To improve the safety and adaptability of the human–machine and environment–machine interactions, the research of soft grippers has attracted much attention. In this study a novel Soft Humanoid Hand with Variable Stiffness (SHH-VS) is presented. The SHH-VS has 6 degrees of freedom, and the design of the soft finger with variable stiffness adopts the principle of layer jamming. The SHH-VS can complete grasping, pinching, holding, lifting and other multi-skill grasping operations, using the tendon-driven mechanism. Tactile sensors are installed at the fingertips, which can realize real-time feedback of tactile information. The SHH-VS has better flexibility, greater grasping power, and multi-skill grasping ability. Through a number of grasping experiments, it has been verified that the SHH-VS has greater reliability and safety, and can be used in various daily situations.