A novel cluster-tube self-adaptive robot hand

This paper proposes a novel cluster-tube self-adaptive robot hand (CTSA Hand). The CTSA Hand consists of a base, a motor, a transmission mechanism, multiple elastic tendons, and a group of sliding-tube assemblies. Each sliding-tube assembly is composed of a sliding tube, a guide rod, two springs and a hinge. When the hand grasping an object, the object pushes some sliding tubes to different positions according to the surface shape of the object, the motor pulls the tendons tight to cluster tubes. The CTSA Hand can realize self-adaptive grasping of objects of different sizes and shapes. The CTSA Hand can grasp multiple objects simultaneously because the grasping of the hand acts as many grippers in different directions and heights. The grasping forces of the hand are adjusted by a closed-loop control system with potentiometer. Experimental results show that the CTSA Hand has the features of highly self-adaption and large grasping forces when grasping various objects.