Design and development of a light weight embodied robotic hand activated with only one actuator

At the present time, the robotics hand research field is searching for those robots that could imitate the human hand, both in shape and in skill. As another option, some manipulator are developed, even though they do not imitate the human hand, they try to fulfil certain specific tasks with the biggest precision and skill. Some keys to make the robotic hands integrable in any manipulator are: built them lighter, a minimum amount of actuators and a simple sensorial system to simplify its control. The present work will describe the design of the RL1 Hand developed in the Robotic´s Lab at the Carlos III University of Madrid. This robotic hand has 3 articulated fingers, which adapt themselves to the object which is being held. The fingers movement and auctioning are made through one direct current motor. The control is done through simple commands and can be sent from any computer, as a string of characters. To prove its ability the RL1 Hand was mounted in a robotic arm, ASIBOT Robot. This arm was developed to help disabled people or people with special needs. The RL1 Hand, its mechanisms, its electronic control and its actuator weight 250gr and they are embodied in the ASIBOT Robot.