Three-Fingered Robot Hand With Self-Adjusting Grip

The figure depicts a tendon-driven, three-fingered robot hand (or foot, depending on one's perspective) designed to be installed on the end of the left front leg of the six-legged robot described in the preceding article. This hand, which was undergoing development at the time of reporting the information for this article, is intended to satisfy the need for a small, lightweight mechanism that can grasp objects of various shapes (e.g., balls or cylinders of differing diameters), without need for an elaborate electronic control system or for multiple actuators. The hand also houses rudimentary sensors: the terminal optics of a fiber-optic camera are incorporated into the palm of the hand, and the housing for the optics doubles as a contact-sensor switch.