Abstract
Grippers and robotic hands are an important field in robotics. Recently, the combination of grasping devices and haptic feedback has been a promising avenue for many applications such as laparoscopic surgery and spatial telemanipulation. This paper presents the work behind a new self-adaptive, a.k.a. underactuated, gripper with a proprioceptive haptic feedback in which the apparent stiffness of the gripper as seen by its actuator is used to estimate contact location. This system combines many technologies and concepts in an integrated mechatronic tool. Among them, underactuated grasping, haptic feedback, compliant joints and a differential seesaw mechanism are used. Following a theoretical modeling of the gripper based on the virtual work principle, the authors present numerical data used to validate this model. Then, a presentation of the practical prototype is given, discussing the sensors, controllers, and mechanical architecture. Finally, the control law and the experimental validation of the haptic feedback are presented.
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Acknowledgments
The support of the Ingenierie de Technologies Interactives en Readaptation (INTER) network is gratefully acknowledged as well as the National Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), the Fonds de recherche du Quebec—Nature et Technologies and the Canadian Foundation for Innovation. The authors would like to thank Maxime Blaise for his contribution on the design and fabrication of the prototype.
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Appendices
Appendix 1: Kinematic loop-closure equations
Please note that the gripper is designed to be symmetrical, i.e. all lengths are the same on both sides.
Appendix 2: Virtual work matrices
The virtual work matrices for each side of the gripper are:
Finally, the coefficient of the stiffness matrix are :
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Belzile, B., Birglen, L. A compliant self-adaptive gripper with proprioceptive haptic feedback. Auton Robot 36, 79–91 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10514-013-9360-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10514-013-9360-1