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Mechanical design, modeling, and identification for a novel antagonistic variable stiffness dexterous finger
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  • Research Article
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  • Published: 14 October 2022

Mechanical design, modeling, and identification for a novel antagonistic variable stiffness dexterous finger

  • Handong Hu1,
  • Yiwei Liu1,
  • Zongwu Xie1,
  • Jianfeng Yao1 &
  • …
  • Hong Liu1 

Frontiers of Mechanical Engineering volume 17, Article number: 35 (2022) Cite this article

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Abstract

This study traces the development of dexterous hand research and proposes a novel antagonistic variable stiffness dexterous finger mechanism to improve the safety of dexterous hand in unpredictable environments, such as unstructured or man-made operational errors through comprehensive consideration of cost, accuracy, manufacturing, and application. Based on the concept of mechanical passive compliance, which is widely implemented in robots for interactions, a finger is dedicated to improving mechanical robustness. The finger mechanism not only achieves passive compliance against physical impacts, but also implements the variable stiffness actuator principle in a compact finger without adding supererogatory actuators. It achieves finger stiffness adjustability according to the biologically inspired stiffness variation principle of discarding some mobilities to adjust stiffness. The mechanical design of the finger and its stiffness adjusting methods are elaborated. The stiffness characteristics of the finger joint and the actuation unit are analyzed. Experimental results of the finger joint stiffness identification and finger impact tests under different finger stiffness presets are provided to verify the validity of the model. Fingers have been experimentally proven to be robust against physical impacts. Moreover, the experimental part verifies that fingers have good power, grasping, and manipulation performance.

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Abbreviations

AVS:

Antagonistic variable stiffness

CAU:

Compliant actuation unit

CS:

Circular spline

DOF:

Degree of freedom

DSA:

Distal-joint-locked stiffness adjusting

FS:

Flexspline

PD:

Proportional plus derivative

PSA:

Proximal-joint-locked stiffness adjusting

SEA:

Series elastic actuator

SEJ:

Series elastic joint

VSA:

Variable stiffness actuator

VSJ:

Variable stiffness joint

DIP:

Distal interphalangeal

PIP:

Proximal interphalangeal

WG:

Wave generator

E CAUi :

Potential energy

E finger :

Finger potential energy

F(φ):

Generalized force exerted to the actuation frame

F ext :

Generalized force at the load frame

F si, F 0i, Δx si :

Resultant spring force on the slider, the initial spring

K s, θ CSi, τ CSi :

force, the deflection of the slider, the stiffness of linear spring, the angular displacement of CS, and CS torque of the ith CAU, respectively

J M :

Motor inertia of deceleration

K CAUi :

Stiffness of the ith CAU

K p, K d :

Proportional gain and differential gain of the PD controller, respectively

K Ji (i = 1,2):

ith finger joint stiffness

k sys :

Stiffness of a flexible mechanical system

k T :

Transmission stiffness of the coupling block

K J :

Stiffness vector of the finger joints

N :

Deceleration ratio of the harmonic drive gear

p a, p b :

Synchronous belt transmission ratio and differential gear transmission ratio, respectively

q :

Generalized load frame deflection

q i (i = 1,2):

Output shaft angular position the ith CAU

R :

Distance between the CS axis and the slider routine

T D :

Transformation matrix of forward joint dynamics

T K :

Transformation matrix of forward joint kinematics

x :

Generalized actuation frame deflection

θ CS, θ FS, θ WG :

Angular deflections of CS, FS, and WG, respectively

θ i (i = 1,2):

Angular positions of joint i abduction/adduction

θ mi :

Angular displacement of motor of the ith CAU

θ Mi :

Motor side displacement

Θ :

Position vector

μ 1, μ 2 :

Coefficients of coulomb friction of CAU1 and CAU2, respectively

v 1, v 2 :

Coefficients of sliding friction of CAU1 and CAU2, respectively

τ 1, τ 2 :

J1 torque and J2 torque, respectively

τ CAUi :

Torque

τ CS, τ FS :

CS torque and FS torque, respectively

τ Ji (i = 1,2):

ith finger joint torque

τ J :

Torque vector

φ :

Compliant deflection

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (Grant No. 2017YFB1300400), and the Major Research Plan of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 91848202).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Robotics and System, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150001, China

    Handong Hu, Yiwei Liu, Zongwu Xie, Jianfeng Yao & Hong Liu

Authors
  1. Handong Hu
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  2. Yiwei Liu
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  3. Zongwu Xie
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  4. Jianfeng Yao
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  5. Hong Liu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yiwei Liu.

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Hu, H., Liu, Y., Xie, Z. et al. Mechanical design, modeling, and identification for a novel antagonistic variable stiffness dexterous finger. Front. Mech. Eng. 17, 35 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11465-022-0691-5

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  • Received: 29 November 2021

  • Accepted: 10 April 2022

  • Published: 14 October 2022

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11465-022-0691-5

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Keywords

  • multifingered hand
  • mechanism design
  • robot safety
  • variable stiffness actuator
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