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Development of an Anatomically Correct Testbed (ACT) Hand

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The Human Hand as an Inspiration for Robot Hand Development

Part of the book series: Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics ((STAR,volume 95))

Abstract

We have built an Anatomically Correct Testbed (ACT) hand with the purpose of understanding the intrinsic biomechanical and control features of the human hands that are critical for achieving robust, versatile, and dexterous movements as well as object and world exploration. By mimicking the underlying mechanics and controls of the human hand in a hardware platform, our goal is to achieve previously unmatched grasping and manipulation capabilities. In this chapter we present distinguishing design philosophy and features of the ACT Hand compared to the existing robotic hands, and the details of the design and assembly of the finger bones, joints, tendons and actuators. We derive and analyze the unique muscle-to-joint relationships, called the moment arms, in the ACT Hand index finger, and present a software architecture for the control of the hand movement and forces by controlling the numerous muscle actuators. We also illustrate the grasping and manipulation abilities of the ACT Hand. The fully functional ACT Hand platform allows us to experiment with novel control algorithms to develop a deeper understanding of human dexterity.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Zhe Xu, Michael J. Vande Weghe, Benjamin H. Brown, Timothy Blakeley, Lillian Y. Chang, David D. Wilkinson, Sean M. Bidic for their role in the design and building of the ACT Hand. Also the authors would like to thank Jonathan Ko, Ravi Balasubramanian and Brian Dellon for their role in data collection and modeling of the moment arm relationships.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas, 204, E. Dean Keeton Street, ETC 1.210, Austin, TX, 78756, USA

    Ashish D. Deshpande

  2. Department of Computer Science and Engineering, The University of Washington, 185, Stevens Way, Seattle, WA, 98195, USA

    Yoky Matsuoka

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  1. Ashish D. Deshpande
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Correspondence to Ashish D. Deshpande .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, USA

    Ravi Balasubramanian

  2. Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA

    Veronica J. Santos

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Deshpande, A.D., Matsuoka, Y. (2014). Development of an Anatomically Correct Testbed (ACT) Hand. In: Balasubramanian, R., Santos, V. (eds) The Human Hand as an Inspiration for Robot Hand Development. Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics, vol 95. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-03017-3_21

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-03017-3_21

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-03016-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-03017-3

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