Design and control of a multi-fingered robot hand provided with tactile feedback

The design, construction, control and application of a three fingered robot hand with nine degrees of freedom and built-in multi-component force sensors is described. The adopted gripper kinematics are justified and optimized with respect to grasping and manipulation flexibility. The hand was constructed with miniature motor drive systems imbedded into the fingers. The control is hierarchically structured and is implemented on a simple PC-AT computer. The hand's dexterity and intelligence are demonstrated with some experiments

Penghasilan manual penyediaan perancangan perniagaan bagi industri kecil dan sederhana : satu kajian di Politeknik Seberang Perai

Kajian ini dilaksanakan untuk menentukan elemen-elemen yang bersesuaian bagi menghasilkan sebuah Perancangan Perniagaan yang lengkap dan berkesan. Fokus kajian ini ialah untuk melihat tahap pemahaman dan pengetahuan 41 orang pelajar Semester 6 Diploma Pengurusan Perniagaan Sesi 2003/ 2004 di Politeknik Seberang Perai, Puiau Pinang, berkenaan penyediaan Perancangan Perniagaan. Segala maklumbalas responden dianalisis dengan menggunakan perisian Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) Version 11.5. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan berlakunya peningkatan tahap pengetahuan dan pemahaman responden selepas mereka menggunakan Manual Penyediaan Perancangan Perniagaan (MPPP). Berdasarkan kepada purata skor min iaitu 3.17, menunjukkan penerimaan responden terhadap keupayaan MPPP terutamanya dari aspek elemen-elemen yang perlu ada dalam Perancangan Perniagaan. Tahap pencapaian mereka juga meningkat sebanyak 17% berdasarkan kepada perbezaan min markah ujian pra dengan ujian pasca. Dapat disimpulkan MPPP yang dihasilkan mampu membantu pengguna untuk menyediakan sebuah Perancangan Perniagaan yang lengkap dan berkesan

Kinematic evaluation of end effector design

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Ocean Engineer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution September 1992The complex, many degree-of-freedom end effectors at the leading edge of technology would be unusable in the sea bottom research environment. Simpler designs are required to provide adequate reliability for subsea use. This work examines selection of end effector designs to achieve optimum grasping ability with minimal mechanical complexity. A new method of calculating grasp stability is developed, incorporating elements of previous works in the field. Programs are developed which evaluate the ability of different end effector configurations to grasp representative objects (a cube, sphere and infinite cylinder). End effector designs considered had circular palms with fingers located at the periphery, oriented so that each pointed to the center of the palm. The program tested configurations of from 1 to 4 fingers and from 1 to 3 links per finger. Three sets of finger proportions were considered: equal length links, half length links, and anthropomorphic proportions. The 2 finger, 2 link per finger configuration was determined to be the optimum design, and the half length proportions were selected as the best set of proportions

Dynamics, control and sensor issues pertinent to robotic hands for the EVA retriever system

Basic dynamics, sensor, control, and related artificial intelligence issues pertinent to smart robotic hands for the Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA) Retriever system are summarized and discussed. These smart hands are to be used as end effectors on arms attached to manned maneuvering units (MMU). The Retriever robotic systems comprised of MMU, arm and smart hands, are being developed to aid crewmen in the performance of routine EVA tasks including tool and object retrieval. The ultimate goal is to enhance the effectiveness of EVA crewmen

Ground Robotic Hand Applications for the Space Program study (GRASP)

This document reports on a NASA-STDP effort to address research interests of the NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) through a study entitled, Ground Robotic-Hand Applications for the Space Program (GRASP). The primary objective of the GRASP study was to identify beneficial applications of specialized end-effectors and robotic hand devices for automating any ground operations which are performed at the Kennedy Space Center. Thus, operations for expendable vehicles, the Space Shuttle and its components, and all payloads were included in the study. Typical benefits of automating operations, or augmenting human operators performing physical tasks, include: reduced costs; enhanced safety and reliability; and reduced processing turnaround time

Autonomous dexterous end-effectors for space robotics

The development of a knowledge-based controller is summarized for the Belgrade/USC robot hand, a five-fingered end effector, designed for maximum autonomy. The biological principles of the hand and its architecture are presented. The conceptual and software aspects of the grasp selection system are discussed, including both the effects of the geometry of the target object and the task to be performed. Some current research issues are presented

Bio-Artificial Synergies for Grasp Posture Control of Supernumerary Robotic Fingers

A new type of wrist-mounted robot, the Supernumerary Robotic (SR) Fingers, is proposed to work closely with the human hand and aid the human in performing a variety of prehensile tasks. For people with diminished functionality of their hands, these robotic fingers could provide the opportunity to live with more independence and work more productively. A natural and implicit coordination between the SR Fingers and the human fingers is required so the robot can be transformed to act as part of the human body. This paper presents a novel control algorithm, termed “Bio-Artificial Synergies”, which enables the SR and human fingers to share the task load together and adapt to diverse task conditions. Through grasp experiments and data analysis, postural synergies were found for a seven-fingered hand comprised of two SR Fingers and five human fingers. The synergy-based control law was then extracted from the experimental data using Partial Least Squares (PLS) regression and tested on the SR Finger prototype as a proof of concept

Multi-fingered robotic hand

A robotic hand is presented having a plurality of fingers, each having a plurality of joints pivotally connected one to the other. Actuators are connected at one end to an actuating and control mechanism mounted remotely from the hand and at the other end to the joints of the fingers for manipulating the fingers and passing externally of the robot manipulating arm in between the hand and the actuating and control mechanism. The fingers include pulleys to route the actuators within the fingers. Cable tension sensing structure mounted on a portion of the hand are disclosed, as is covering of the tip of each finger with a resilient and pliable friction enhancing surface

Modelling and Simulation of a Manipulator with Stable Viscoelastic Grasping Incorporating Friction

Design, dynamics and control of a humanoid robotic hand based on anthropological dimensions, with joint friction, is modelled, simulated and analysed in this paper by using computer aided design and multibody dynamic simulation. Combined joint friction model is incorporated in the joints. Experimental values of coefficient of friction of grease lubricated sliding contacts representative of manipulator joints are presented. Human fingers deform to the shape of the grasped object (enveloping grasp) at the area of interaction. A mass-spring-damper model of the grasp is developed. The interaction of the viscoelastic gripper of the arm with objects is analysed by using Bond Graph modelling method. Simulations were conducted for several material parameters. These results of the simulation are then used to develop a prototype of the proposed gripper. Bond graph model is experimentally validated by using the prototype. The gripper is used to successfully transport soft and fragile objects. This paper provides information on optimisation of friction and its inclusion in both dynamic modelling and simulation to enhance mechanical efficiency

Improvement on work measurement at Pau Mira Frozen Food Industry

The record of highest sales for one day is 20000 buns and the manpower for Pau Mira factory is only 18 persons. Special feature for Pau Mira is about the full of stuffing and many choices of flavor. Hot selling bun flavor is red bean bun and chocolate bun. For example, Bun Mira contains many flavors such as red bean bun, coconut, yam, chocolate, chicken, durian and it is enables to be food supplies to West Malaysia, not only limited to area Pagoh. The workflow for Pau Mira factory includes ingredient selection, dough kneading, and bun formation, fermentation, steaming, cooling and packaging. Table 5.1 shows the process of making pau started from dough kneading until the packaging process