Robotic hand biomimicry: Lateral finger joint force and position feedback during contour interaction

The joint motion profiles of 10 human test subjects were recorded as they ran their hands over a flat surface and a convex surface. From this data, three controllers for a dexterous robotic hand were developed to mimic this behavior. Specifically, this work examines the role of finger abduction force and position feedback to motors that control finger extension. Experimental results show the biomimetic controller that uses both abduction force and position feedback within the controllers for finger extension successfully approximates human motion. Further, this controller reduces joint torques and oscillations that occur during contour interaction.