Hand like robot

Human Hand like Robot for Automation Teaching

This is the design, development and implementation of a 14 DOF human anthropomorphic gripper as a didactic tool for teaching automation basics using pneumatics and PLCs. The anthropomorphic fingers behave like serial robots and their motion allows performing several types of power and precision grasps just as it's human counterpart, this collaborative motion can be seen as a robotics workcell, where each finger is an actuated mechanism with a specific task.

The mechanism was designed by studying the skeletal system of the human hand, in the same manner; the actuation system was inspired on muscles and tendons that were configured and implemented using pneumatic actuators. Similarly to tendons, through nylon strings attached to the pneumatic actuators located at the forearm of the robotics hand the mechanism was configured to perform extension and flexion.

The pneumatic muscles were chosen as suitable soft actuators given their resemblance with how our muscles work; the own made actuators allow performing and controlling each of the finger's flexion and extension rotations through its contraction and expansion. The system architecture is composed of an anthropomorphic gripper controlled by uses Festo's FC660 PLC.

Country & Year

Colombia - 2012

Authors

Hernando Leon-Rodriguez
Edgar Diaz
Alvaro Uribe