Design Optimization of a Prismatic-Revolute-Revolute Joint Hand for Grasping From Unconstrained Vehicles

Abstract

Adding grasping and manipulation capabilities to unconstrained vehicles such as UAVs, AUVs, and small space craft so that they can deliver cargo, grasp and retrieve objects, perch on features in the environment, and even manipulating their environment is an ongoing area of research. However, these efforts have relied heavily on structuring the interaction task and have predominantly utilized existing gripper designs that were not specialized for the platform or task. In this paper, we present a parametric model of a novel underactuated hand design that is composed of prismatic-revolute-revolute joint fingers. This kinematic configuration attempts to minimize disturbance forces to the body of the vehicle while achieving stable grasps on a wide range of objects under significant positional uncertainty. In particular, this paper investigates the impact of various design parameters, including the relative link lengths and force allocation across the three joints, on grasping performance and suggests optimal design parameters for a prototype hand.