Haptic Perception with Self-Organizing ANNs and an Anthropomorphic Robot Hand
Figure 1
The LUCS Haptic Hand III while holding a screw driver, in open position seen in a front view and in a side view. Some of the actuators in the forearm can also be seen in the side view. The 12-d.o.f robot hand has five fingers, is of the same size as a human hand, and all its parts have approximately the same proportions as their counterparts in a human hand. Each finger can be separately flexed/extended in the proximal joint, whereas the medial and distal joints are flexed/extended together as real human fingers. As a human hand, the thumb has only a proximal and a distal phalang. These can also be separately flexed/extended. In addition the thumb can also be adducted/abducted in a way similar to the human thumb. The wrist is capable of flexion/extension. The actuators of the LUCS Haptic Hand III are controlled via an SSC-32 (Lynxmotion Inc.). The proprioceptive sensors are scanned with a MAX396CPI multiplexor chip and digitalized using an NiDaq 6008 (National Instruments). The NiDaq 6008 converts multiple analog input signals to digital signals, which are conveyed to the computer via a USB-port. The robot hand is equipped with two multiplexor chips, which means it is prepared for 21 additional sensors.
