A digit mechanism for an artificial hand comprises: a lower digit (44) arranged to be rotatably coupled to a palm unit (12) of the artificial hand; an upper digit (48) rotatably coupled to the lower digit (44); a lower digit rotation mechanism (34, 46, 52, 58) for applying a moment to the lower digit (44) to rotate the lower digit (44) relative to the palm unit (12); an upper digit rotation mechanism (50, 54, 56) for applying a moment to the upper digit (48) to rotate the upper digit (48) relative to the lower digit (44); and a force balancing mechanism (60, 58) for mechanically adjusting the magnitude of the moment applied by the lower digit rotation mechanism (34, 46, 52, 58) and/or the upper digit rotation mechanism (50, 54, 56) in accordance with the magnitude(s) of outside forces resisting rotation of the upper digit (48) and/or the lower digit (44) in order to preferentially apply movement to the digit experiencing lower resistance to movement; wherein the force balancing mechanism is arranged to increase the force applied to rotate a controlled digit when a controlling digit experiences a greater resistance to movement than the controlled digit, and decrease the force applied to rotate the controlled digit when the controlling digit experiences a lesser resistance to movement than the controlled digit; wherein the lower digit rotation mechanism (34, 46, 52, 58) and upper digit rotation mechanism (50, 54, 56) are arranged to be mechanically actuated, in use, by a force applied from a single actuator at the palm unit (12).

For handling blanks, semi-finished products or finished products in an automated production processes, a gripping device (3) is provided that has a gripper (4) that is assigned a stripper (5), with the stripper having at least one stripping element (6). The stripping element (6) can be moved as required past the gripper (4) in a stripping movement between a starting position and an end position in order to remove bodies (2) possibly interfering with the gripping process from a gripping region of the gripper (4). This occurs in particular when the gripper (4) has already gripped a body (2) to be gripped.

A robot hand according to an embodiment of the present technology includes a finger unit and a guide member. The finger unit is capable of holding a flexible linear member such that the linear member is slidable in a longitudinal direction of the linear member, the linear member being a linear member whose one end is fixed. The guide member is mounted on the finger unit, and includes a guide section that guides the linear member to a predetermined position.

Systems and methods for estimating deformation and field of contact forces are described. A method includes generating a reference configuration including reference points in space. The reference configuration corresponds to an initial shape of a membrane prior to contact with the manipuland. The method further includes receiving raw data from a TOF device. The raw data includes points in space measured by the TOF device and indicating deformation of the membrane due to contact with the manipuland. The method further includes determining deformation of the membrane that best approximates a current configuration in a least squares sense while satisfying a discrete physical model enforced as a linear constraint that corresponds to a linearized physical model of the deformation that is discretized with an FEM, linearizing the relationship, and estimating deformation and field of contact forces by solving a least squares formulation with physical constraints cast as a sparse quadratic program.

A gripping device for gripping an egg tray (3A) having a dimpled structure includes a gripping unit (4) that is movable up and down to engage and grip the egg tray (3A) and move it. The gripping unit comprises (4) at least a pair of opposite grip ping members (42A, 42B) which are movable in opposite directions, substantially transverse to the up and down movement of the unit (4), from a retracted position to an advanced position to grip a dimple (31) of the egg tray (3A), and from the advanced position to the retracted position to release the dimple. Each gripping member (42A, 42B) of said pair has a separate pressure operated actuator (46) operatively connected to it. The actuator (46), upon pressurization, moves the corresponding gripping member (42A, 42B) from the retracted position to the advanced position.

The present disclosure provides a gripper of a robot and a robot including the same. The gripper may include a case, a plurality of fingers rotatably connected to the case, and a plurality of connecting rods. A first end of each of the connecting rods may be connected to a respective one of the fingers. The gripper may also include a driving assembly connected to a second end of each of the connecting rods, and the driving assembly may be configured to drive the second end of each of the connecting rods to move along a moving direction so as to drive the plurality of finger to rotate. The gripper may further include a force detecting assembly connected to the case and the driving assembly, which may be configured to limit a position of the driving assembly along the moving direction and to detect a force from the driving assembly.

A body including a drive wheel and movable by rotation of the wheel; an electric motor to rotate the drive wheel; a controller to control the electric motor such that the rotational speed of the electric motor is a target rotational speed; an operation input device to receive an input of an amount of operation relating to movement speed of the body; a handle to be used by an operator to maneuver the body, the handle including grips to be grasped by the operator; and a grasping power detection sensor mounted on one of the grips to detect a grasping power with which the operator grasps the one of the grips. The controller determines a gain positively correlated with the grasping power, the amount of the operation as amplified by the gain, and the target rotational speed based on the amount of the operation as amplified by the gain.

Provided are systems, devices, and methods for sensing location and forces. A robotic effector comprising a skin and a core can have a plurality of electrodes integrated in the skin and/or core. Upon interaction with a target object, the robotic effector may determine a total force and/or a location of the force by the target object on the robotic effector. Sensitivity and dynamic range of the robotic effector may improve by changing various configurations.

A method of controlling a holding apparatus configured to hold plural kinds of target objects by plural fingers in plural relative postures includes calculating, on a basis of information about holding force of the fingers in a relative posture for a target object, an amount of positional deviation of the target object held by the fingers, and correcting, on a basis of the amount of positional deviation calculated in the calculating, a position of the target object held by the fingers.

A remote control robot system includes a slave arm configured to perform a given work, a master arm having a motor configured to drive a joint, and configured to receive from an operator an operation to manipulate the slave arm, an instruction generating module configured to generate an instruction to apply to the master arm an imaginary external force in a given direction that is independent from a force received by the slave arm from the exterior, and a motor controller configured to supply, to the motor, drive current corresponding to the instruction sent from the instruction generating module.