The compliance of robotic hands – from functionality to mechanism

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the physical structure and the control mechanism of human motor nervous system to the robotic system in a tentative manner to improve the compliance/flexibility/versatility of the robot.

Design/methodology/approach

A brief review is focused on the concept of compliance, the compliance-based methods and the application of some compliance-based devices. Combined with the research on the physical structure and the control mechanism of human motor nervous system, a new drive structure and control method is proposed.

Findings

Introducing the physical structure and the control mechanism of human motor nervous system can improve the compliance/flexibility/versatility of the robot, without bringing in more complexity or inefficiency to the system, which helps in the assembly automation tasks.

Originality/value

The proposed drive structure and control method are useful to build up a novel, low-cost robotic assembly automation system, which is easy to interact and cooperate with humans.

Citation

Li, R., Wu, W. and Qiao, H. (2015), "The compliance of robotic hands – from functionality to mechanism", Assembly Automation, Vol. 35 No. 3, pp. 281-286. https://doi.org/10.1108/AA-06-2015-054