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The Development of a Two-finger Dexterous Bionic Hand with Three Grasping Patterns-NWAFU Hand

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Abstract

Bionic inspiration from human thumb and index finger was the drive to design a high-performance two-finger dexterous hand. The size of each phalanx and the motion range of each joint in the human thumb and index finger were summarized, and the features of three grasping patterns were described in detail. Subsequently, a two-finger dexterous bionic hand with 6 Degrees of Freedom (DoFs) was developed. Both the mechanical thumb and index finger were made up of three rigid phalanx links and three mechanical rotation joints. Some grasp-release tests validated that the bionic hand can perform three grasping patterns: power grasp, precision pinch and lateral pinch. The grasping success rates were high under the following cases: (1) when power grasping was used to grasp a ring with external diameter 20 mm – 140 mm, a cylinder with mass < 500 g, or objects with cylinder, sphere or ellipsoid shape; (2) when the precision pinch was used to grasp thin or small objects; (3) when the lateral pinch was used to grasp low length-to-width ratio of objects. The work provided a method for developing two-finger bionic hand with three grasping patterns, and further revealed the linkage between the difference in finger structure and size and the hand manipulation dexterity.

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Acknowledgment

This work was supported by a European Marie Curie International Incoming Fellowship (326847 and 912847), a Special Foundation for Talents of Northwest A&F University (Z111021801), and two Key Research and Development Plans of Shaanxi Province (2019NY-172 and 2018030).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100, China

    Zhiguo Li, Zhongliang Hou, Yuxiao Mao & Yan Shang

  2. Key Laboratory of Agricultural Internet of Things, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Yangling, 712100, China

    Zhiguo Li & Zhongliang Hou

  3. Institute of Environmental Protection and Development, Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Wroclaw, 50-375, Poland

    Lukasz Kuta

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  1. Zhiguo Li
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  2. Zhongliang Hou
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  3. Yuxiao Mao
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  4. Yan Shang
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  5. Lukasz Kuta
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Correspondence to Zhiguo Li.

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Li, Z., Hou, Z., Mao, Y. et al. The Development of a Two-finger Dexterous Bionic Hand with Three Grasping Patterns-NWAFU Hand. J Bionic Eng 17, 718–731 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42235-020-0068-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42235-020-0068-6

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