Design of a Underactuated Robotic Hand with Three Articulated Fingers

An intelligent flexible hand with eight degrees of freedom is developed which reconfigures itself in real time to achieve a grasp with different shaped target objects. It has three articulated fingers, driven by four DC motors, which is a typical underactuated structure. Grasping action of each finger is independently controlled by a motor and the outer two symmetrical fingers centered on parallel joint axes around the entire palm can both be rotated synchronously 180 degrees by the fourth motor. The design of mechanical transmission, embedded development board, sensors and force sensor calibration are introduced in detail. All embedded development board, controller, sensors, motors and drivers are integrated inside the palm of the hand or on the surface of the fingers, which has the advantages of compact structure and easy operation. Use standard serial communication to send control commands, all valid commands are parsed in the controller, and the target objects can immediately be grasped. The research provides a design method for the underactuated robotic hand.