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Implementation of a new flexible soft finger mechanism
Abstract
We design a new soft finger mechanism using a spring as a backbone. It is a 4 DOF mechanism that consists of a spring and 3 cylinders, which behave like joints with 3 up-and-down rotations and 1 left-and-right rotation. To control each joint, cylinders have small holes in their cross-sectional areas, and wires of different length are penetrated into these holes. We can control each joint by pulling the corresponding wire. The forward kinematics is solved by using the geometry of mechanism. And the relationship (Jacobian) between the linear velocity of the wires and the joint angular rate is obtained. A virtual simulator is developed to test the validity of the kinematic model. In the experiment, first, the position control is conducted by tracking a given trajectory. Second, to verify the flexibility and safety, we show that the soft finger deflects in a safe manner, in spite of the collision with environment.
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This paper describes a novel fingertip equipped with a soft elastic cover and a hard nail. The soft elastic cover of the fingertip enables changing friction coefficient at the contact with an object. It also enables detecting change of contact type with an object while manipulating it: the fingertip contact with a flat surface and with a convex sharp edge. The solid nail enables detecting a very small step of sub-millimeter on a smooth surface.
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