Kinematic mapping between the EXOS Handmaster exoskeleton and the Utah/MIT dextrous hand

Abstract

An investigation of the control of a multifingered robot hand, the Utah/MIT dextrous hand, with a hand exoskeleton worn by a human is presented. The hand exoskeleton used was the EXOS Handmaster. The relative effectiveness of two approaches in performing a task in which an object is grasped with the finger tips of the dexterous hand at the same location as the human's grasp is evaluated. One approach was to directly measure the joint angles from the Handmaster and transfer these as the desired joint positions for the robotic fingers. The other approach was to develop a mathematical model that would allow the finger tips of the slave to replicate the finger tip positions of the human while wearing the Handmaster. This was accomplished by developing a kinematic model of the human finger and thumb and of the EXOS Handmaster. The actual finger tip position was computed within the accuracy of the model