From robotic hands to human hands: a visualization and simulation engine for grasping research
Abstract
Purpose
Robotic hands are still a long way from matching the grasping and manipulation capability of their human counterparts, but computer simulation may help us understand this disparity. We present our publicly available simulator, and describe our research projects involving the system including the development of a human hand model derived from experimental measurements.
Design/methodology/approach
Unlike other simulation systems, our system was built specifically to analyze grasps. It can import a wide variety of robot designs by using standard descriptions of the kinematics and link geometries. Various components support the analysis of grasps, visualization of results, dynamic simulation of grasping tasks, and grasp planning.
Findings
The simulator has been used in several grasping research problems and can be used to plan grasps for an actual robot. With the aid of a vision system, we have shown that these grasps can be executed by a robot.
Research limitations/implications
We are currently developing methods to handle deformable surfaces, tendon driven models, and non‐ideal joints in order to better model human grasping.
Practical implications
This work is part of our current project to create a biomechanically realistic human hand model to better understand what features are most important to mimic in the designs of robotic hands. Such a model will also help clinicians better plan reconstructive hand surgeries.
Originality/value
We describe our publicly available grasping simulator and review experiments performed with it. The paper demonstrates the usefulness of this system as a tool for grasping research.
Keywords
Citation
Miller, A., Allen, P., Santos, V. and Valero‐Cuevas, F. (2005), "From robotic hands to human hands: a visualization and simulation engine for grasping research", Industrial Robot, Vol. 32 No. 1, pp. 55-63. https://doi.org/10.1108/01439910510573309
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2005, Emerald Group Publishing Limited