Soft robotics is an emerging field with strong potential to serve as an educational tool due to its advantages such as low costs and shallow learning curves. In this paper, we introduce a modular and reconfigurable mold for flexible design of pneumatic soft robotic grippers. By using simple assembly kits, students at all levels are able to design and construct soft robotic grippers that vary in...

The paper investigates robotic assembly by focusing on the manipulation of microparts. This task is formalized through the notion of basic tasks which are organized in a logical sequence represented by a function chart and interpreted as the model of the behavior of the experimental setup. The latter includes a robotic system, a gripping system, an imaging system, and a clean environment. The i...

Predicting the grasping function during reach-to-grasp motions is essential for controlling a prosthetic hand or a robotic assistive device. An early accurate prediction increases the usability and the comfort of a prosthetic device. This work proposes an electromyographic-based learning approach that decodes the grasping intention at an early stage of reach-to-grasp motion, i.e. before the fin...

Manipulation of complex simulated entities like cloth in graphical applications can be non-intuitive and awkward for the user due to the high number of degrees of freedom in their motions. In robotics, direct control of a robotic manipulator for a highlydexterous task is similarly tedious because multiple joints have to be controlled simultaneously, in close coordination and often in varying ve...

A new type of wrist-mounted robot, the Supernumerary Robotic (SR) Fingers, is proposed to work closely with the human hand and aid the human in performing a variety of prehensile tasks. For people with diminished functionality of their hands, these robotic fingers could provide the opportunity to live with more independence and work more productively. A natural and implicit coordination between...

This paper presents the design and optimization of a self-adaptive, a.k.a. underactuated, finger targeted to be used with collaborative robots. Typical robots, whether collaborative or not, mostly rely on standard translational grippers for pickand-place operations. These grippers are constituted from an actuated motion platform on which a set of jaws is rigidly attached. These jaws are often d...

In this paper, a model of the harp plucking is developed. It is split into two successive time phases, the sticking and the slipping phases, and uses a mechanical description of the human finger's behavior. The parameters of the model are identified through measurements of the finger/string displacements during the interaction. The validity of the model is verified using a configurable and repe...

adequate coverage is one of the main problems for distributed wireless sensor networks and the effectiveness of that highly depends on the sensor deployment scheme. given a finite number of sensors, optimizing the sensor deployment will provide sufficient sensor coverage and save power of sensors for movement to target location to adequate coverage. in this paper, we apply fuzzy logic system to...

We used the framework of the uncontrolled manifold (UCM) hypothesis to explore changes in the structure of variability in multifinger force-production tasks when a secondary task was introduced. Healthy young subjects produced several levels of the total force by pressing with the four fingers of the hand on force sensors. The frame with the sensors rested on the table (Stable condition) or on ...

The kinematics of the human hand is optimal with respect to force distribution during pinch as well as power grasp, reducing the tissue strain when exerting forces through opposing fingers and optimising contact faces. Quantifying this optimality is of key importance when constructing biomimetic robotic hands, but understanding the exact human finger motion is also an important asset in, e.g., ...