Abstract

This project involved the design and development of an operational first

prototype for the IRIS platform – an anthropomorphic robotic hand capable of
autonomously determining the shape of an object and selecting the most
appropriate method for grabbing said object. Autonomy of the device is
achieved through the use of a unique control system which takes input from
sensors embedded in the hand to determine the shape of an object, the position
of each finger, grip strength, and the quality of grip. The intended use for this
technology is in the medical field as a prosthesis, though the hand could also be
adapted to work on other robot platforms as a versatile gripper. The advantage
of our system as a prosthesis is that its autonomous functions allow the user to
access a wide variety of functionality more quickly and easily than similar,
commercially available products.

A robot hand, especially one with multiple fingers, is necessary for conducting
various tasks in daily life. Realization of the robot hand making flexible human-
like motions by the design inspired by the human musculoskeletal system is
expected. It is not only used as a hand of a humanoid robot but also used as a
prosthetic hand. However, constructing a model and applying a conventional
controller to it are difficult, due to its complicated structure. Therefore, one of
the obstacles in developing a robot hand is designing a controller. In the present
study, a bioinspired controller is used to control a five-fingered robot hand with
a musculoskeletal system, and performance of the controller is demonstrated by
conducting the position control of a finger.
 Introduction

1.1 Introduction:

Robot hands are intended to realize the same dexterous and versatile
manipulation that we humans can do. Thus, for robot-hand research,
understanding the anatomy and motion of the human hand is fundamental. On
the other hand, from the point of view of human-hand research, describing the
mechanisms and mechanics behind hand posture and motion helps to
understand how we realize such dexterous and versatile manipulations.
However, there is a wide gap between robotic and human informatics, and it is
difficult to interchange the diverse knowledge accumulated in each research
field directly.

We have been involved in digital-hand research for more than a decade. The
goal of this project is to simulate the mechanical interaction between the human
hand and the object (hand-held product) for promoting ergonomic product
design, taking the individual differences in hand properties into account.

For this purpose, we realize a synthesis of various hand models, including

individual and representative hands, based on a template hand model, a hand
dimension database, and spatial deformation of the template model. Also, the
individual model was used for motion analysis of the human hand in
collaboration with a motion-capturing system, while the representative model
was used for the mechanical analysis of grasp and manipulation by using a hand
model in a grasping posture.

Interestingly, the digital hand is applicable to not only ergonomic product

design as previously described, but to interface the robotic and human
informatics. For example, the digital-hand model with a simplified anatomical
link structure enabled us to reproduce the motion of the human hand. Once the
motion is quantified, it is possible to summarize representative hand postures in
the lower dimensional space by using a statistical method such as principal
component analysis . This is quite useful in designing robot hands and in
synthesizing the posture of robot hands . Also, the unified theory of grasp and
manipulation established in robot-hand research provides a deep insight about
the stability of grasp and its impact on the ease of grasp while human subjects
are using hand-held products. This is indispensable for understanding the
strategies behind the motion synthesis of human hands and how the subjective
response arises during product use.
 Methodology / Working

2.1 Experimental design for robot hand :

The prosthetic hand is designed by Solid cardboard. The figure 2.1 shows the
model of the prosthetic hand

Fig 2.1: Model of the prosthetic hand

The Arduino Atmega8 is used as the controller. Arduino is a brand of open-

source microcontrollers frequently used in athome, do-it-yourself electronics
projects. It can be programmed in a version of C, and the Arduino website
contains software for programming the device. There are also a host of
straightforward online tutorials that make it easy and quick to learn. A variety of
electronic components can be connected via breadboard as inputs and outputs
for the code, making Arduinos incredibly versatile. Arduino microcontrollers
are intuitive, inexpensive, and readily available—three factors critical to
accessible, easy-to-use prosthetics. The movement of robot fingers is controlled
by Servo SG90. That is small and lightweight with high output power. Servo
can rotate approximately 180 degrees (90 in each direction).
 Fig 2.2 Servo SG90

That SG90 servo in Figure 3has specifications as table.

 Table: Specifications of servo SG90

Weight 9g
Dimension 22.2 x 11.8 x 31 mm
Stall torque 1.8 kgf·cm
Operating speed 0.1 s/60 degree
Operating voltage 4.8 V (~5V)
Dead band width 10 µs
Temperature range 0 ºC – 55 ºC

On the prosthetic hand, there are some tendon guide eyelets. For these, the
fishing lines are put across the eyelets to help the prosthetic fingers move.
Figure 2.3 shows five servos connected with fishing lines are used, one for each
finger.
 Fig 2.3 Fishing lines connected with motors

After attaching the ―tendon string‖ to the finger and threading it through all the
narrow holes, the ‗opening‘ and ‗closing‘ finger positions are marked. The
distance the string travelled can be measured, and therefore how far the servo
needed to travel to open and close each finger. This measurement would be used
to find the servo travel angle in the code for each finger. An Arduino Atmega8
is used to control the servo motor to control the movement of fingers.

Fig 2.4 Arduino UNO connect to Servo SG90

The void loop contains the variable pos (position). It is this one variable that is
used to assess the condition to stay in or exit the loop, as well as
incrementing/decrementing the counter. More importantly, this variable
represents the servo position value for the myservo1.write(n) statement, where n
is replaced with pos. As the loop runs, the pos value (which begin at 0) is
incremented, and thus the position of the servo is changed one degree at a time
by using the myservo1.write(pos) statement. The servo rotation is based on the
code by using the time delay function delay() after each individual or group of
write() position movements.

void loop() {

for (pos = 0; pos <= 180; pos += 1) { // goes from 0 degrees to 180 degrees

// in steps of 1 degree

myservo.write(pos); // tell servo to go to position in variable 'pos'

delay(15); // waits 15 ms for the servo to reach the position

}
 Programming

Programming required to the robotic hand for moving the fingers :

#include <Servo.h>

Servo myservo; // create servo object to control a servo

// twelve servo objects can be created on most boards

int pos = 0; // variable to store the servo position

void setup() {

myservo.attach(9); // attaches the servo on pin 9 to the servo object

void loop() {

for (pos = 0; pos <= 180; pos += 1) { // goes from 0 degrees to 180 degrees

// in steps of 1 degree

myservo.write(pos); // tell servo to go to position in variable 'pos'

delay(15); // waits 15 ms for the servo to reach the position

for (pos = 180; pos >= 0; pos -= 1) { // goes from 180 degrees to 0 degrees

myservo.write(pos); // tell servo to go to position in variable 'pos'

delay(15); // waits 15 ms for the servo to reach the position

 }

Fig 3.1 Arduino IDE Software windows frame of programme

 Conclusion

The servos, controlled by an Arduino, are used to control the movement of the
finger through the cord. The finger can be moved likely the real finger. In the
future, the feedback part would be improved to realize the prosthetic hand.
 References

1. https://www.servomagazine.com/magazine/article/august2015_Ohlmus
2. https://web.wpi.edu/Pubs/E-project/Available/E-project-043014-
213851/unrestricted/IRIS_HAND_MQP_REPORT.pdf
3. https://www.arduino.cc/
4. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/
315383588_Simple_Robotic_Hand_in_Motion_Using_Arduino_Controll
ed_Servos