Robotic Systems(8)

Dr Richard Crowder
School of Electronics and Computer Science

Last revised September 2011

Robotic end effectors

The end effector is the element of the robot that interfaces with the environment, and can either be a gripper or a tool.
In a wider sense, an end effector can be seen as the part of a robot that interacts with the environment. Using this more general definition, the wheels of a mobile robot or the feet of a humanoid robot are also end effectors. Introduction to the Human Hand and Robotic Grippers

Clarification
Grippers are subsystems of handling mechanisms which provide temporary contact with the object to be grasped. They ensure the position and orientation when carrying and mating the object to the handling equipment.

Gripper Classification
Impactive jaws physically grasp by direct contact with the object.
Ingressive pins, needles or hackles which physically penetrate the surface of the object (used in textile, carbon and glass fibre handling). Astrictive suction or other forces applied to the objects surface (vacuum, magneto or electroadhesion). Contigutive requiring direct contact for adhesion to take place (such as glue, surface tension or freezing)

Human Hand

Power

Pinch

Classification of human hand grips

Cylindrical hollow Tip Hook

Three fingered

Palm

Tong

Grasp Task planning

The choice of a grasp for any given object should reflect the requirements of the task to be performed. To be able to move or manipulate an object, the grasp must be robust to external disturbances, and must be designed so that appropriate forces can be applied to the object without excessive effort.

from http://graphics.cs.cmu.edu/nsp/projects/hands/hands.html

Design Constraints
One goal of grasp choice for robotics is to choose contact points that guarantee properties such as force- or form-closure. Many efficient algorithms have been developed to address this problem, but most of these algorithms focus on grasps having a minimal number of contact points.

Increasing the number of contacts can dramatically improve the quality and flexibility of grasps that are constructed.
Force production capabilities of the human hand can be computed if maximum muscle forces and tendon moment arms are known. Although the tendon structure of the hand is complex, as suggested in the figure below, estimates for the required information can be readily obtained from the biomechanics literature

Fingers

1: Number of Tools

2: Grip possibilities

Number of fingers
Zero should be understood as movement of the arm joints only. Two: widely used in industrial applications, very simple, but only effective with a defined object. Three: can give very flexible operation. Four, Five: only required if the gripper is required to be anthropomorphic. Note the little finger does not contribute significantly to a hands gripping capability. The addition of the fifth finger makes negligible contribution to industrial applications About 90% of the grips involved in industrial applications can be realized with three finger hand. All human fingers do not possess the same strength. The middle finger is the strongest one and the little finger the weakest. The strength potential is distributed as follows: index finger 21%, middle finger 34%, ring finger 27%, and little finger 18%.

Typical Robotic Hands/Grippers

Finger Actuation
Pneumatics
Hydraulics Electric Motor Tendon Solid linkages

Stanford/JPL Hand

Salisbury: Kinematic and Force Analysis of Articulated Hands in Robot Hands and the Mechanics of Manipulation, MIT 1985

Tendon Driven Finger - Bologna

Comments
Tendon drives, while simple to design are difficult to commission and can be complex. Concept of Underactuation More DoF than actuators

An underactuated robot is defined as a manipulator with one or more unactuated joints. Underactuated or self-adaptive fingers use passive elements (the most common of which are springs) in the design of their unactuated joints.
Delegate the control of the finger from the electronic board to the mechanical structure

Tendon driven Finger

Connected differential mechanism

Video
FROM FLAPPING WINGS TO UNDERACTUATED FINGERS AND BEYOND, A BROAD LOOK TO SELF-ADAPTIVE MECHANISMS Birglen, Proceedings of the 1st International Workshop on Underactuated Grasping, UG2010 August 19, 2010, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Southamptons Whole Arm Manipulator

Finger Mechanism
Low er s ec tion M iddle s ec tion G Link 1 B D

Basic finger mechanism

T ip

A K C I E Link 2 F

Bell crank
J

Low er section

M iddle section

S lider Dri ve output

E quil iser bar Link A A Link 2

Tip

Equalizing bar mechanism

Link B

Link 1

3 DOF finger
Curling, where displacement of control link 1, curls the two upper finger segments about joint C.
Bending, where displacement of control link 2, bends all the three finger segments about joint A. Rotation, of the whole module about its central axis

15 September 1999

CLAWAR

20

Ingressive Gripper

Designed to handle non rigid material

textiles Felt carpets

Ingressive Grippers
Compressed air

Astrictive Grippers
Vacuum system
Sheet metal Glass Wood Plastics Compact discs

Vacuum Gripper
Typical calculation Fth = (m(g+a))s Fth Fth is the theoretical holding force required m is the load mass g is the acceleration due to gravity a is the system acceleration s is the safety factor (>1.5)

Suction force is a function of (a) the pad rating and (b) The number of pads used in an application. Also the suction force is not applied instantaneously as the vacuum system has to evacuate all the pads and associated pipework

Contigutive Gripper
Mainly used microassembly applications due to the small force available