title: A light weight compliant hand mechanism with high degrees of freedom.
abstract: This paper presents the design and prototyping of an inherently compliant lightweight hand mechanism. The hand mechanism itself has 15 degrees of freedom and five fingers. Although the degrees of freedom in each finger are coupled, reducing the number of independent degrees of freedom to 5, the 15 degrees of freedom of the hand could potentially be individually actuated. Each joint consists of a novel flexing mechanism that is based on the loading of a compression spring in the axial and transverse direction via a cable and conduit system. Currently, a bench top version of the prototype is being developed; the three joints of each finger are coupled together to simplify the control system. The current control scheme under investigation simulates a control scheme where myoelectric signals in the wrist flexor and extensor muscles are converted in to x and y coordinates on a control scheme chart. Static load-deformation analysis of finger segments is studied based on a 3-dimensional model without taking the stiffener into account, and the experiment validates the simulation.
authors.affiliation: Virtual Soldier Research (VSR) Program, Center for Computer-Aided Design, The University of Iowa, 111 Engineering Research Facility, Iowa City, IA 52242-1000, USA.
authors.forename: Jason
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Potratz
authors.forename: Jingzhou
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Karim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Abdel-Malek
authors.forename: Esteban
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Peña Pitarch
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Grosland
mesh_terms: D032701:Biomimetics / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004548:Elasticity; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005384:Finger Joint / Q000502:physiology*; D006225:Hand / Q000502:physiology*; D018737:Hand Strength / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012371:Robotics / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D013314:Stress, Mechanical