Related papers: Educational SoftHand-A: Building an Anthropomorphi…
Legged robots constructed from soft materials are commonly claimed to demonstrate safer, more robust environmental interactions than their rigid counterparts. However, this motivating feature of soft robots requires more rigorous…
Humanoid robots are increasingly being integrated into learning contexts to assist teaching and learning. However, challenges remain how to design and incorporate such robots in an educational context. As an important part of teaching…
We present a novel underactued humanoid five finger soft hand, the KIT \softhand, which is equipped with cameras in the fingertips and integrates a high performance embedded system for visual processing and control. We describe the…
Many robotic hands currently rely on extremely dexterous robotic fingers and a thumb joint to envelop themselves around an object. Few hands focus on the palm even though human hands greatly benefit from their central fold and soft surface.…
Affective touch offers positive psychological and physiological benefits such as the mitigation of stress and pain. If a robot could realize human-like affective touch, it would open up new application areas, including supporting care work.…
This paper presents a numerical method to conceive and design the kinematic model of an anthropomorphic robotic hand used for gesturing and grasping. In literature, there are few numerical methods for the finger placement of human-inspired…
Hand synergies, or joint coordination patterns, have become an effective tool for achieving versatile robotic grasping with simple hands or planning algorithms. Here we propose a method to determine the hand synergies such that they can be…
One of the first and foremost non-verbal interactions that humans perform is a handshake. It has an impact on first impressions as touch can convey complex emotions. This makes handshaking an important skill for the repertoire of a social…
To be useful tools in real scenarios, humanoid robots must realize tasks dynamically. This means that they must be capable of applying substantial forces, rapidly swinging their limbs, and also mitigating impacts that may occur during the…
We outline the design and construction of novel robotic arms using machine perception, convolutional neural networks, and symbolic AI for logical control and affordance indexing. We describe our robotic arms built with a humanlike…
We explore natural user interactions using a virtual reality simulation of a robot arm for assembly tasks. Using a Wizard-of-Oz study, participants completed collaborative LEGO and instructive PCB assembly tasks, with the robot responding…
Soft robotic manipulators with many degrees of freedom can carry out complex tasks safely around humans. However, manufacturing of soft robotic hands with several degrees of freedom requires a complex multi-step manual process, which…
Incorporating a robotic manipulator into a wheel-legged robot enhances its agility and expands its potential for practical applications. However, the presence of potential instability and uncertainties presents additional challenges for…
This paper presents a control scheme for force sensitive, gentle grasping with a Pisa/IIT anthropomorphic SoftHand equipped with a miniaturised version of the TacTip optical tactile sensor on all five fingertips. The tactile sensors provide…
Dexterous in-hand manipulation is a unique and valuable human skill requiring sophisticated sensorimotor interaction with the environment while respecting stability constraints. Satisfying these constraints with generated motions is…
One of the open challenges in designing robots that operate successfully in the unpredictable human environment is how to make them able to predict what actions they can perform on objects, and what their effects will be, i.e., the ability…
High-DOF dexterous hands require compact actuation, rich sensing, and reliable thermal behavior, but conventional designs often occupy valuable in-hand space, increase end-effector mass, and suffer from heat accumulation near the hand.…
Assistive robotic arms enable users with physical disabilities to perform everyday tasks without relying on a caregiver. Unfortunately, the very dexterity that makes these arms useful also makes them challenging to teleoperate: the robot…
The human arm exhibits remarkable capabilities, including both explosive power and precision, which demonstrate dexterity, compliance, and robustness in unstructured environments. Developing robotic systems that emulate human-like…
Lego is a well-known platform for prototyping pixelized objects. However, robotic Lego prototyping (i.e., manipulating Lego bricks) is challenging due to the tight connections and accuracy requirements. This paper investigates safe and…