Development of Underactuated Mechanical Fingers Based on Anthropometric Data and Anthropomorphic Tasks

This paper describes a systematic method for the kinematic synthesis of one degree-of-freedom robotic fingers that incorporate multi-loop kinematic structures with second order task specifications, such that the fingers do not violate normal direction and curvature constraints imposed by contact with objects. We show how to use these contact and curvature effects to formulate the synthesis equations for the design of a planar index finger, based on anthropomorphic back-bone chain and anthropomorphic task. The prototype of the finger is described in the end of the paper. It is important to note, that the theoretical foundation presented in this paper, assists in solving some of the open problems of the field, providing preliminary results on the synthesis of one degree-of-freedom kinematic chains, based on human’s finger dimensions and novel task specifications that incorporate curvature constraints, with future applications in grasping and object manipulation.