Design and Building of a Multi-finger Robotic Hand Prototype for Grip Control

Abstract

—This paper presents the design and construction of a multi-finger biometric robotic hand prototype that can be used as an end effector in processes that require dexterous grasping of objects. The research aims to obtain an optimized mechanism that manages to emulate the movements of a hand using a reduced number of joints and links. A rigid mechanism with actuators in the palm is mathematically modeled and kinematically verified through a functional grip application. A biologically inspired optimization algorithm is employed in the dimensional optimization of the mechanism to follow a trajectory profile that defines the type of grip. As a result, a robotic hand is obtained with a proportion that does not exceed 10% of the dimensions of a human hand, which integrates a mechanism with 7 Degrees of freedom (DOF) and 16 joints and a trajectory control that guarantees different types of grip. Different grips presented in this document show the dexterity of the hand, given by the kind of rigid mechanism and trajectory profile tracking. The adduction and abduction movements of the hand extend their usefulness to reproduce different types of grips.