Development of the Amadeus dextrous robot end-effectors

Amadeus (advanced manipulator for deep underwater sampling) is an international subsea manipulator project, funded by the European Union Marine Science and Technology Research Programme. The three fingered hydraulic end-effectors utilise an innovative continuum finger construction, where motion is generated through the elastic deformation of bellows actuators and the fingers contain no moving parts. Independent finger control enables asymmetric grasps to be achieved on irregularly shaped objects and allows object manipulations to be performed solely through finger actuation. The compliant continuum finger structure passively reacts to disturbances within the environment increasing grasp stability and reducing the risk of contact damage. This paper discusses end-effector requirements for robot manipulation in poorly structured environments and presents the rationale behind the Amadeus end-effecters. In particular the level of organisation within the operational the objectives and design of the first prototype are presented along with some of the modifications being incorporated into the second generation device