Skip to main content
Log in

In-hand manipulation of a circular dynamic object by soft fingertips without angle measurement

  • Research Paper
  • Published:
Science China Information Sciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A multi-fingered robotic hand with curved fingertips enables contact re-positioning without reat-taching at the expense of fingertip rolling. This rolling stands for a characteristic that facilitates dexterous manipulation but results in an algebraically complex dynamic model subject to such constraints. The hemispherical shape of fingertips allows a dexterous manipulation when controlling the tangent forces, which are essential to rotate object. However, the measurement of the object angle in practice requires tactile-optical sensing. In this paper, considering robotic fingers with curved soft tips, we propose a feedback control that ensures optimal dynamical grasping of a circular rigid object. It is shown that the collaboration of the contact forces, to get a minimum pose of internal forces, and the tangential forces, to induce the conditions for assuring the grasp closure, is necessary to get a skillful manipulation. In this case, the orientation control of a circular object to the desired angle while avoiding direct measurement of the object angle is presented. Stability conditions of the system are presented in the sense of stability-in-the-manifold. Finally, representative simulations are shown and discussed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Bicchi A. Hands for dexterous manipulation and robust grasping: a difficult road toward simplicity. IEEE Trans Robot Automat, 2000, 16: 652–662

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Mattar E. A survey of bio-inspired robotics hands implementation: new directions in dexterous manipulation. Robot Autonomous Syst, 2013, 61: 517–544

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Salisbury J-K. Kinematics and force analysis of articulated hands. Dissertation for Ph.D. Degree. Stanford: Stanford University, 1982

    Google Scholar 

  4. Cole A B A, Hauser J E, Sastry S S. Kinematics and control of multifingered hands with rolling contact. IEEE Trans Automat Contr, 1989, 34: 398–404

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  5. Murray R, Li Z X, Sastry S S. A Mathematical Introduction to Robotic Manipulation. Boca Raton: CRC Press, 1994

  6. Parra-Vega V, Rodríguez-Angeles A, Arimoto S, et al. High precision constrained grasping with cooperative adaptive hand-control. J Intell Robotic Syst, 2001, 32: 235–254

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Bicchi A, Gabiccini M, Santello M. Modelling natural and artificial hands with synergies. Phil Trans R Soc B, 2011, 366: 3153–3161

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Stramigioli S. Modeling and IPC control of interactive mechanical systems - a coordinate-free approach. In: Lecture Notes in Control and Information Sciences. Berlin: Springer, 2003

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  9. Karayiannidis Y, Doulgeri Z. Adaptive control of robot contact tasks with on-line learning of planar surfaces. Automatica, 2009, 45: 2374–2382

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  10. Karayiannidis Y, Rovithakis G, Doulgeri Z. Force/position tracking for a robotic manipulator in compliant contact with a surface using neuro-adaptive control. Automatica, 2007, 43: 1281–1288

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  11. Fasoulas J, Sfakiotakis M. Modeling and control for object manipulation by a two d.o.f. robotic hand with soft fingertips. IFAC Proc Vol, 2012, 45: 259–264

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Jia Y-B. Grasping curved objects through rolling. In: Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2000. 377–382

  13. Harada K, Kaneko M. Rolling based manipulation under neighborhood equilibrium, robotics and automation. In: Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2001. 2492–2498

  14. Ito S, Mizukoshi Y, Sasaki M. Numerical analysis for optimal posture of circular object grasped with frictions. In: Proceedings of IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 2007. 1545–1550

  15. Nakashima A, Nagase K, Hayakawa Y. Simultaneous control of grasping/manipulation and contact points with rolling contact. In: Proceedings of the 16th IFAC World Congress, 2005

  16. Song S K, Park J B, Choi Y H. Dual-fingered stable grasping control for an optimal force angle. IEEE Trans Robot, 2012, 28: 256–262

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Marigo A, Bicchi A. Rolling bodies with regular surface: controllability theory and applications. IEEE Trans Automat Contr, 2000, 45: 1586–1599

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  18. Morio Y, Arimoto S, Bae J-H. Blind grasp and manipulation of a rigid object by a pair of robot fingers with soft tips. In: Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2007. 4707–4714

  19. Akella P, Cutkosky M. Manipulating with soft fingers: modeling contacts and dynamics. In: Proceedings of International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 1989. 767–769

  20. Arimoto S, Nguyen P T A, Han H Y, et al. Dynamics and control of a set of dual fingers with soft tips. Robotica, 2000, 18: 71–80

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Arimoto S. Control Theory of Multi-fingered Hands. Berlin: Springer, 2008

    Google Scholar 

  22. Latash M L, Zatsiorsky V. Principle of superposition in human prehension. In: Advances in Robot Control: From Everyday Physics to Human-Like Movements. Berlin: Springer, 2006. 249–261

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  23. Santello M, Bianchi M, Gabiccini M, et al. Towards a synergy framework across neuroscience and robotics: lessons learned and open questions. Reply to comments on: “Hand synergies: Integration of robotics and neuroscience for understanding the control of biological and artificial hands”. Phys Life Rev, 2016, 17: 54–60

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Shibata M, Hirai S. Stability and graspability analysis in grasping task taking fingertip dynamics into consideration. In: Proceedings of the 2004 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 2004. 3686–3691

  25. Inoue T, Hirai S. Why humans can manipulate objects despite a time delay in the nervous system. In: The Human Hand as an Inspiration for Robot Hand Development. Cham: Springer, 2014

    Google Scholar 

  26. Wimboeck T, Ott C, Hirzinger G G. Passivity-based object-level impedance control for a multifingered hand. In: Proceedings of IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 2006. 4621–4627

  27. Ozawa R, Arimoto S, Nguyen P T A, et al. Manipulation of a circular object in a horizontal plane by two finger robots. In: Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics, 2004. 517–522

  28. Nguyen P T A, Ozawa R, Arimoto S. Manipulation of a circular object by a pair of multi-DOF robotic fingers. In: Proceedings of IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 2006. 5669–5674

  29. Ozawa R, Arimoto S, Nguyen P T A, et al. Manipulation of a circular object without object information. In: Proceedings of International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 2005. 1832–1838

  30. Grammatikopoulou M, Psomopoulou E, Droukas L, et al. A controller for stable grasping and desired finger shaping without contact sensing. In: Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2014. 3662–3668

  31. Psomopoulou E, Karashima D, Doulgeri Z, et al. Stable pinching by controlling finger relative orientation of robotic fingers with rolling soft tips. Robotica, 2018, 36: 204–224

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Nakashima A, Shibata T, Hayakawa Y. Grasp and manipulation by soft finger with 3-dimensional deformation. In: Proceedings of SPIE, 2008. 6794

  33. Roa M A, Suárez R. Grasp quality measures: review and performance. Auton Robot, 2015, 38: 65–88

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Coelho J A, Grupen R A. Optimal multifingered grasp synthesis. In: Proceedings of the 1994 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 1994. 1937–1942

  35. Wen S Q, Wu T J. Computation for maximum stable grasping in dynamic force distribution. J Intell Robot Syst, 2012, 68: 225–243

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Kim B, Oh S, Yi B, et al. Optimal grasping based on non-dimensionalized performance indices. In: Proceedings of IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 2001. 949–956

  37. Harada K, Tsuji T, Uto S, et al. Stability of soft-finger grasp under gravity. In: Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA). 2014. 883–888

  38. Shibata M, Hirai S. Stability and graspability analysis in grasping task taking fingertip dynamics into consideration. In: Proceedings of IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 2004. 3686–3691

  39. Assaf T, Roke C, Rossiter J, et al. Seeing by touch: evaluation of a soft biologically-inspired artificial fingertip in real-time active touch. Sensors, 2014, 14: 2561–2577

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Ascari L, Bertocchi U, Corradi P, et al. Bio-inspired grasp control in a robotic hand with massive sensorial input. Biol Cybern, 2009, 100: 109–128

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Dang H, Allen P K. Stable grasping under pose uncertainty using tactile feedback. Auton Robot, 2014, 36: 309–330

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Iberall T, Bingham G, Arbib M A. Opposition space as a structuring concept for the analysis of skilled hand movements. In: Experimental Brain Research Series 15 — Generation and Modulation of Action Patterns. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 1986. 158–173

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  43. Garcia-Rodriguez R, Villalva-Lucio M, Parra-Vega V. Dexterous dynamic optimal grasping of a circular object with pose regulation using redundant robotic soft-fingertips. In: Proceedings of 2015 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2015. 6231–6237

  44. García-Rodríguez R, Villalva-Lucio M, Parra-Vega V. Dexterous dynamic optimal grasping of a circular object subject to gravity with soft-fingertips. IFAC-PapersOnLine, 2015, 48: 220–225

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. Amodio P, Mazzia F. Numerical solution of differential algebraic equations and computation of consistent initial/boundary conditions. J Comput Appl Math, 1997, 87: 135–146

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  46. Napier J, Tuttle R H, Russell H. Hands. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993

    Book  Google Scholar 

  47. Mason M T. Mechanics of Robotic Manipulation. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2001

    Book  Google Scholar 

  48. Bogacki P, Shampine L F. A 3(2) pair of Runge-Kutta formulas. Appl Math Lett, 1989, 2: 321–325

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  49. Baumgarte J. Stabilization of constraints and integrals of motion in dynamical systems. Comput Methods Appl Mech Eng, 1972, 1: 1–16

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to R. Garcia-Rodriguez.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Garcia-Rodriguez, R., Parra-Vega, V. In-hand manipulation of a circular dynamic object by soft fingertips without angle measurement. Sci. China Inf. Sci. 64, 152209 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11432-020-3059-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11432-020-3059-9

Keywords

Navigation