Robot arm uncouples hand to increase reach
Robotic arms only have a limited reach. So why not simply uncouple the hand so that it can reach an object? The approach seems bizarre.
The Addams Family's "ice-cold little hand" as a robot version. The real-life version of the researchers is somewhat more sober.
(Image: Xiao Gao (Screenshot))
At the ICRA@40 robotics symposium in Rotterdam, a research team from the Swiss École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) presented a robotic arm whose hand can detach itself in order to reach distant objects that are beyond the arm's reach. The hand can then crawl towards the object like the Addams Family's "ice-cold hand" and pick it up.
The researchers use a conventional Kuka robotic arm to which they have attached an artificial hand via a coupling mechanism. They have recorded their research results in the study "Designing a Multi-fingered Robotic Hand for Grasping and Crawling", which is currently unpublished.
The coupling mechanism consists of two magnets that connect the hand to the robotic arm and fix it in place with an extendable screw. The mechanism can be triggered remotely and autonomously by the hand itself to release or reconnect.
Crawling hand
The robotic hand has five movable fingers, each consisting of three segments. The fingers are attached to a palm in such a way that they can move forwards and backwards in both directions. This allows the hand to be set up so that it can walk separately using the fingers as legs. The fingers are designed to be extremely flexible so that the hand can walk on three fingers and grasp an object with the other two fingers. To optimize the hand design, the scientists used simulations in advance to find a configuration that allows walking and holding objects at the same time.
Empfohlener redaktioneller Inhalt
Mit Ihrer Zustimmmung wird hier ein externes YouTube-Video (Google Ireland Limited) geladen.
Ich bin damit einverstanden, dass mir externe Inhalte angezeigt werden. Damit können personenbezogene Daten an Drittplattformen (Google Ireland Limited) übermittelt werden. Mehr dazu in unserer Datenschutzerklärung.
"Although you see it in scary movies, I believe we are the first to implement this idea in robotics," says Xiao Gao, lead author of the study.
In a video, the researchers show how the hand is remotely uncoupled from the robotic arm and maneuvered to an object. An autonomous version that can localize an object via external detection has also been tested in the laboratory. The hand then detaches itself from the arm, crawls towards the distant object, grabs the object and returns to the arm to dock again.
(olb)