Transcend Anthropomorphic Robotic Grasping With Modular Antagonistic Mechanisms and Adhesive Soft Modulations

This letter presents a robotic hand with modular antagonistic fingers and adhesive soft modulations for general purposes with grasping and manipulation capabilities. The anthropomorphic design includes the hand-like configuration, modular antagonistic fingers, soft modulations, compliant joints, and tendon-driven actuation inspired by human hand with soft and rigid structures. The robotic hand is composed of five fingers with multiple joints and a palm with two joints. Each finger consists of one or more modules with soft modulations. The modules can be quickly assembled through structural coupling to change the degrees of freedom and the length of the fingers for variable-workspace grasping/manipulation. Soft modulations as the skin of the robotic hand enhance unconventional grasping stability by regulating positive and negative pressure to the soft layers. The robotic motion control driven by human hand gesture and the motor torque can achieve versatile grasping/manipulation. Experimental results validate the soft adhesive modulations and the capability of the robotic hand on performing various types of grasping/manipulation.