Impedance control on a multi-fingered robot hand based on analyzed electromyographic information for massage applications

This research presents the development of a multi-fingered robot hand for the application of massage. Massage is a helpful treatment for human body conditioning and therapy. This is a relative new and feasible application of multi-fingered robot hands except for the use as prosthesis and grasping applications. For the dexterous manipulation of the robot hand, impedance control is adopted. Impedance control aims to generate a desired dynamical relationship between the motion of the end-effector and the reactive force at the contact region. For the safety and the comfort monitoring during massage, the measurement of human sensation information such as electromyographic (EMG) signals, pulse, skin temperature and conductance is introduced into the control system. Herein, we focus on the use of analyzed EMG signals as the feedback information for massage applications.