Kinematics, Design and Experimental Validation of a Novel Parallel Robot for Two-Fingered Dexterous Manipulation

Abstract

Two-fingered manipulation robotic systems are widely used in many application sand notably at small scales. The commonly employed solution is based on the attachment of a gripper on a robot. This paper introduces a new eight degrees of freedom (DoF) mechanism intended for two-fingered dexterous manipulation. The eight DoFs are obtained via a parallel architecture moved by eight actuators that are attached to the base of the robot. The novelty lies in the use of a 2-DoF configurable platform that insures two relative rotations of the gripper jaws (opening and twisting) in addition to the 6-DoF Cartesian movements. The paper presents the kinematics and the design of a proof-of-concept able to grasp, roll, translate and rotate objects in a single compact design. A prototype is operated to manipulate and insert a 2-mm screw.