Development of Five-fingered Hand with Soft Joints Using Machined Springs for Musculoskeletal Humanoid and Realization of Self-Weight Supporting Motion

Abstract

Human can support their body not only in the foot but also by hand, so that they can dangle a bar and so on. But most humanoid robots support their body only in the foot and they use their hand just to manipulate objects because of the weakness of their hands. Strong hands enable humanoid robots to act in broader scene. Therefore, we developed the new life-size five-fingered hand that can support the body of life-size humanoid robot. It is tendon-driven and underactuated hand and actuators in forearms produce high gripping force. Because this hand has soft joints consisting of machined springs, it has both structural strength and impact resistance. We installed the hand to musculoskeletal humanoid “Kengoro” and achieved two self-weight supporting motions, push-up motion and dangling motion.