Cartesian stiffness control of the JPL/Stanford/Salisbury hand

To be useful as a dexterous end effector in assembly operations, a multifingered hand must be position-controlled to allow preshaping, and force-controlled to apply and regulate grasp forces. The author describes an implementation of stiffness control on the Salisbury hand, from tendon tension control to coordinated Cartesian object stiffness control. Substantial joint friction effects were observed which were predicted well using a simple friction model. Simple parts have been mated using the active compliance provided by the hand