Kinematics and Its Grasp Ability of Pneumatic Flexible Five-fingered Robot Hand

According to anatomical structures of human hand, a pneumatic flexible humanoid robot-hand is developed using two types of flexible joints designed by ourselves. The robot hand has five fingers and each finger is composed of three flexible joints in which the body of joint and the driving device are combined into one. The kinematics equations of the robot hand are established employing parameterized homogeneous coordinate transformation matrix. Furthermore, the workspace of the robot hand is analyzed, and on that basis, simulation are performed on the robot hand posing complex postures and grasping objects with different shapes. Subsequently, relative prototype experiments are accomplished on the pneumatic control platform, to verify the function and the dexterity of the robot hand. Also, the clamping forces of all joints on the flexible finger with different ventilation modes are tested. In short, the developed robot hand has high dexterity to complete 13 kinds of actions, like grasp, grip, kneading, screwing and so on, to adapt to the shapes of the objects well.