A continuous model of robot hand preshaping

The continuous spaces of grasps are formulated and an algorithmic procedure is derived for robot hand preshaping. The proposed procedure consists of a mapping from a task space to a topological space of hand configurations using a barycentric coordinate system and a barycentric subdivision scheme. A model implementation architecture is discussed. Examples showing the preshaping of a four-finger hand in preparation for pinch grasping are described. The basis of the approach is both intuitive and mathematical. The intuitive formulation was based primarily on observations of functionalities and motor activities of the human hand. The mathematical formulation is based on point-set topology and combinatorial topology