Motion sensing for robot hands using MIDS

A novel computer input system-the Micro Input Devices System (MIDS)-is under development by merging MEMS sensors and existing wireless technologies. This system could potentially replace the functions of the mouse, pen, and keyboard as input devices to the computer. The system could also be used as a general wireless 3D motion sensing device. In this paper, we will present our work on using MIDS for motion sensing application of robot hands. MIDS is used to evaluate the performance of PD adaptive control and Impedance control schemes in manipulating a five-fingered robot hand and in manipulating this hand to grasp a ball. Experimental results indicate that MIDS is capable of obtaining real-time 3D acceleration/vibration data wirelessly for the robotic hand, hence eliminating the need to perform the time-consuming integration of the position sensor data to obtain acceleration. Moreover, our initial results also indicate that further exploration of this technology could eventually produce a new control-input device for robotic grasping manipulators. These results are presented in this paper.