Development of a Robot Hand for Human-care Services

Abstract

This paper describes a robot hand with soft compliant finger module for safe and comfortable human-care services. In the finger module, we utilize two different kinds of elastic elements at finger-tip and MP joint (Metacarpa-Phalangeal Joint), respectively, so as to realize soft and stable contact with human body. At fingertip, a hemisphere shaped silicone gum cushion is mounted, while eight cylindrical cushions are placed between the motor and the link inside MP joint. These cushions deform easily and, as a result, absorb external forces exerted from multiple directions. Furthermore the amplitudes and the directions of applied forces can be estimated with the information of changes in the pressure of each cushion. We examined the fundamental characteristics and performance of this finger module through several experiments.