Human Inspired Dexterity in Robotic Manipulation

Tetsuyou Watanabe, Kensuke Harada, Mitsunori Tada

• Publisher: Academic Press
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9780128133859
• eBook ISBN: 9780128133965
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Mechanical Engineering
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Human Inspired Dexterity in Robotic Manipulation provides up-to-date research and information on how to imitate humans and realize robotic manipulation. Approaches from both software and hardware viewpoints are shown, with sections discussing, and highlighting, case studies that demonstrate how human manipulation techniques or skills can be transferred to robotic manipulation. From the hardware viewpoint, the book discusses important human hand structures that are key for robotic hand design and how they should be embedded for dexterous manipulation. This book is ideal for the research communities in robotics, mechatronics and automation. - Investigates current research direction in robotic manipulation - Shows how human manipulation techniques and skills can be transferred to robotic manipulation - Identifies key human hand structures for robotic hand design and how they should be embedded in the robotic hand for dexterous manipulation

Chapter 1

Background: Dexterity in Robotic Manipulation by Imitating Human Beings

Tetsuyou Watanabe Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Institute of Science and Engineering, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan

Abstract

Background for this text is introduced with the basic knowledge for understanding of the contents.

Keywords

Dexterity; Robotic manipulation; Imitation

Contents

• 1.1 Background
• 1.2 Complemental Information
  • 1.2.1 Statistically Significant Difference
  • 1.2.2 State Space Representation
  • 1.2.3 Mechanical Impedance
  • 1.2.4 Fundamental Grasping Style
  • 1.2.5 Kinematics and Statics of Robots
  • 1.2.6 Dynamics of Robots
• References

1.1 Background

Human beings have been a kind of textbook for constructing robots because robots perform the tasks that humans do in the support of human beings. However, there are a lot of unrevealed things about human beings. Even if knowledge is given, how to utilize that knowledge during the development of robots is on a case by case basis and there are no general methodologies to effectively transfer the knowledge during the development process. It is impossible to deal with all aspects of human beings. This text is focused on dexterity and aims to understand how human beings acquire dexterity in object manipulation, discusses the possibility of its application in robotic systems, and draws key strategies for dealing with robotic dexterous manipulation in the next generation.

Here, we are focused on up-to-date research about human functions and the method for transferring the functions to robotic manipulation.

Human functions: The level of dexterous manipulation by robots is currently far from that of human beings. What can improve the ability of robots? One hint might be to understand the approach that human beings take in dexterity acquisition. For example, suppose there is a task of grasping and manipulating an unknown object. The shape, softness, weight, and gravitational center are unknown parameters of the presented object. How do human beings identify the physical parameters and use the identified parameters to complete dexterous manipulation? How do human beings learn such procedures? The methodology for the identifying and learning process of human beings could provide valuable insights for the construction of dexterous manipulation of robots. The structure of the human finger and hand play an important role for dexterous manipulation. It was acquired in the process of evolution. The key structures for dexterity are also valid for the key structures of robotic hand design.

Method for transferring human functions to robotic manipulation: It is basically difficult to transfer human manipulation techniques or functions to robotic manipulation, because of the different structures and system architectures. One approach might be imitating or embedding key function/components in robots one by one. Recent attempts to transfer the tech...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• Contributors
• Chapter 1: Background: Dexterity in Robotic Manipulation by Imitating Human Beings
• Section 1
• Section 2
• Index