Development of a Flexible Cable-Driven Dexterous Hand and Arm–Hand Integrated System

Abstract

The replication of human hand function has always been a crucial focus in the field of cooperative robots. Among various driving mechanisms, cable-driven dexterous hands have gained great attention for their ability to effectively mimic the dynamic characteristics of the human hand. However, achieving comparable degrees of freedom (DOFs), fingertip force, and manipulability to those of the human hand remains a challenge. In this study, we present a novel cable-driven dexterous hand featuring gear rolling joints and tension amplification mechanisms. Our dexterous hand has 16 DOFs (20 joints), a weight of 1.2 kg, a fingertip force of 26 N, 18 contact force sensors, and 15 position sensors. Notably, we develop an arm-hand integrated system based on cable-driven mechanisms to facilitate seamless integration between the dexterous hand and robotic arm components. Finally, the experimental results demonstrate that our dexterous hand exhibits high load capacity, flexibility, and manipulability while completing various daily life tasks.