An in-depth review of hybrid control techniques for smart prosthetic hand technology by two of the world's pioneering experts in the field Long considered the stuff of science fiction, a prosthetic hand capable of fully replicating all of that appendage's various functions is closer to becoming reality than ever before. This book provides a comprehensive report on exciting recent developments in hybrid control techniques--one of the most crucial hurdles to be overcome in creating smart prosthetic hands. Coauthored by two of the world's foremost pioneering experts in the field, Fusion of Hard and Soft Control Strategies for the Robotic Hand treats robotic hands for multiple applications. It begins with an overview of advances in main control techniques that have been made over the past decade before addressing the military context for affordable robotic hand technology with tactile and/or proprioceptive feedback for hand amputees. Kinematics, homogeneous transformations, inverse and differential kinematics, trajectory planning, and dynamic models of two-link thumb and three-link index finger are discussed in detail. The remainder of the book is devoted to the most promising soft computing techniques, particle swarm optimization techniques, and strategies combining hard and soft controls. In addition, the book: . Includes a report on exciting new developments in prosthetic/robotic hand technology, with an emphasis on the fusion of hard and soft control strategies. Covers both prosthetic and nonprosthetic hand designs for everything from routine human operations, robotic surgery, and repair and maintenance, to hazardous materials handling, space applications, explosives disposal, and more. Provides a comprehensive overview of five-fingered robotic hand technology kinematics, dynamics, and control. Features detailed coverage of important recent developments in neuroprosthetics Fusion of Hard and Soft Control Strategies for the Robotic Hand is a must-read for researchers in control engineering, robotic engineering, biomedical sciences and engineering, and rehabilitation engineering.

An in-depth review of hybrid control techniques for smart prosthetic hand technology by two of the world’s pioneering experts in the field Long considered the stuff of science fiction, a prosthetic hand capable of fully replicating all of that appendage’s various functions is closer to becoming reality than ever before. This book provides a comprehensive report on exciting recent developments in hybrid control techniques—one of the most crucial hurdles to be overcome in creating smart prosthetic hands. Coauthored by two of the world’s foremost pioneering experts in the field, Fusion of Hard and Soft Control Strategies for Robotic Hand treats robotic hands for multiple applications. Itbegins withan overview of advances in main control techniques that have been made over the past decade before addressing the military context for affordable robotic hand technology with tactile and/or proprioceptive feedback for hand amputees. Kinematics, homogeneous transformations, inverse and differential kinematics, trajectory planning, and dynamic models of two-link thumb and three-link index finger are discussed in detail. The remainder of the book is devoted to the most promising soft computing techniques, particle swarm optimization techniques, and strategies combining hard and soft controls. In addition, the book: Includes a report on exciting new developments in prosthetic/robotic hand technology, with an emphasis on the fusion of hard and soft control strategies Covers both prosthetic and non-prosthetic hand designs for everything from routine human operations, robotic surgery, and repair and maintenance, to hazardous materials handling, space applications, explosives disposal, and more Provides a comprehensive overview of five-fingered robotic hand technology kinematics, dynamics, and control Features detailed coverage of important recent developments in neuroprosthetics Fusion of Hard and Soft Control Strategies for Robotic Hand is a must-read for researchers in control engineering, robotic engineering, biomedical sciences and engineering, and rehabilitation engineering.

An in-depth review of hybrid control techniques for smart prosthetic hand technology by two of the world’s pioneering experts in the field Long considered the stuff of science fiction, a prosthetic hand capable of fully replicating all of that appendage’s various functions is closer to becoming reality than ever before. This book provides a comprehensive report on exciting recent developments in hybrid control techniques—one of the most crucial hurdles to be overcome in creating smart prosthetic hands. Coauthored by two of the world’s foremost pioneering experts in the field, Fusion of Hard and Soft Control Strategies for Robotic Hand treats robotic hands for multiple applications. Itbegins withan overview of advances in main control techniques that have been made over the past decade before addressing the military context for affordable robotic hand technology with tactile and/or proprioceptive feedback for hand amputees. Kinematics, homogeneous transformations, inverse and differential kinematics, trajectory planning, and dynamic models of two-link thumb and three-link index finger are discussed in detail. The remainder of the book is devoted to the most promising soft computing techniques, particle swarm optimization techniques, and strategies combining hard and soft controls. In addition, the book: Includes a report on exciting new developments in prosthetic/robotic hand technology, with an emphasis on the fusion of hard and soft control strategies Covers both prosthetic and non-prosthetic hand designs for everything from routine human operations, robotic surgery, and repair and maintenance, to hazardous materials handling, space applications, explosives disposal, and more Provides a comprehensive overview of five-fingered robotic hand technology kinematics, dynamics, and control Features detailed coverage of important recent developments in neuroprosthetics Fusion of Hard and Soft Control Strategies for Robotic Hand is a must-read for researchers in control engineering, robotic engineering, biomedical sciences and engineering, and rehabilitation engineering.

This is a cornerstone publication in robotic grasping. The authors have developed an internationally recognized expertise in this area. Additionally, they designed and built several prototypes which attracted the attention of the scientific community. The purpose of this book is to summarize years of research and to present, in an attractive format, the expertise developed by the authors on a new technology for grasping which has achieved great success both in theory and in practice.

“The Human Hand as an Inspiration for Robot Hand Development” presents an edited collection of authoritative contributions in the area of robot hands. The results described in the volume are expected to lead to more robust, dependable, and inexpensive distributed systems such as those endowed with complex and advanced sensing, actuation, computation, and communication capabilities. The twenty-four chapters discuss the field of robotic grasping and manipulation viewed in light of the human hand’s capabilities and push the state-of-the-art in robot hand design and control. Topics discussed include human hand biomechanics, neural control, sensory feedback and perception, and robotic grasp and manipulation. This book will be useful for researchers from diverse areas such as robotics, biomechanics, neuroscience, and anthropologists.

Our hand research has focused on enhancing the dexterity of robotic hands and understanding the nature of dexterous manipulation. The premise of the research is that incorporating task level understanding into a manipulation system simplifies robot planning and increases autonomy. The study of task level strategies for dexterous manipulation has led to development of several novel techniques for controlling the fingertip forces during manipulation and fingertip motion planning. The insights into increased autonomy have led to the development of a novel technique for teleoperating robot hands. The traditional technique of teleoperating a robot hand is to use a Dataglove or exoskeleton master; there is a direct mapping from the human hand to the robot hand. This approach has several limitations which we have addressed by using a simpler control interface with a joystick or keyboard. Enhancing the robot hand's autonomy allows for simpler control strategies and gives it greater functionality than by traditional means. Control of the hand is shared between the user and the robot. We have developed a prototype teleoperation system using a Utah/MIT hand. Our research will ultimately have application in medicine and industry, for enhancement of prosthetic hands and the development of more complex robotic grippers.