Force position control for a pneumatic anthropomorphic hand

Robot hands based on fluidic actuators are a promising technology for humanoid robots due to their compact size and excellent power-weight-ratio. Yet, such actuators are difficult to control due to the inherent nonlinearities of pneumatic systems. In this paper we present a control approach based on a simplified model of the fluidic actuator providing force and position control and further fingertip contact detection. We have implemented the method on the microcontroller of the human hand sized FRH-4 robot hand with 8 DoF and present results of several experiments, including system response and force controlled operation.