Highly Dexterous Humanoid Manipulator (HDHM) Designed for Avatar Systems

Abstract

Robotic grippers that mimic human hands have enamored researchers for years. However, the task of developing such a biomimetic gripper requires a unique technical approach. Many attempts made to build dexterous manipulators with human-like Degrees of Freedom suffer from low torque, prohibitively high costs (upwards of $100,000 in some cases), and lack of integrability with other robotic systems. Moreover, the demand for highly articulated robotic hands has surged with the introduction of international robotics competitions like the 2015 DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) or the 2022 ANA Avatar XPRIZE Finals. The strenuous and dexterous challenges posited by these competitions have highlighted the flaws in many contemporary robotic grippers. Hence, solutions to high-torque, dexterous, human-like manipulation for robots need to be found. This paper proposes a modular, biomimetic robotic hand with 20 Degrees of Freedom, specifically designed for Avatar Robots. By building a robotic hand framework made with ubiquitous, powerful servomotors, robotic hands with greater torque can be made for a fraction of the cost of marketed alternatives.