Contact points determination and validation for grasping of different objects by a four-finger robotic hand

Abstract

Multi-finger robotic hands are analysed in comparison with human hands in terms of stable grasping and fine manipulation of different objects. Therefore, in order to attain a stable grasp, the contact points and the grip configuration must be selected in accordance with the grasp stability. In this paper, the four-fingered tendon actuated robotic hand is simulated to grasp different objects and determine the contact points of the fingertips on the surface of these objects. MATLAB SimMechanics tool is used to perform the simulation and 3D visualisation of the robotic hand where the fingers are controlled in order to grasp objects at the contact points. The obtained contact points are validated using the kinematics and geometric collision detection. These contact points are further utilised experimentally to determine the amount of weight required by the tendon to produce the flexion motion in order to grasp the object at the contact points.