For Professor Fumiya Iida’s Bio-Inspired Robotics Laboratory in the University of Cambridge, Department of Engineering, the scientists have been creating possible solutions to both issues: a robot hand capable of grasping a variety of objects with the right amount of pressure as they use a minimal quantity of energy.
“In earlier experiments, our lab has shown that it’s possible to get a significant range of motion in a robot hand just by moving the wrist,” explained co-author Dr Thomas George-Thuruthel, who is presently based at University College London (UCL) East. “We wanted to see whether a robot hand based on passive movement could not only grasp objects, but would be able to predict whether it was going to drop the objects or not, and adapt accordingly.”
A fully actuated robotic hand, together with the quantity of energy it needs, is a complex control problem as well. The passive design of the Cambridge-designed hand, utilizing a minor quantity of sensors, is simpler control wise, giving a wide range of motion, as well as streamlining the learning process as indicated by researchers who further pointed out that in future, the system maybe taken further in many ways, like by adding computer vision capabilities, or having the robot learn to exploit its atmosphere, which would enable it to grasp a larger range of objects.
