Project Information
Project Requirements
The success metrics for the final design, and toward which our prototypes are aiming are as follows. The fingers will need to be capable of exerting 1 N of force at the tip of the finger and will need to have the full or near-full range of motion of the biological hand in order to be able to play the piano. Moreover, the motors will need to be capable of between 100-300 RPM in order to meet the catching requirement.
Design Description
Fingers will be primarily tendon driven with servos at the base of the fingers to facilitate splaying the fingers. The thumb will likely be similar, using tendons to flex and extend the thumb and two servos enabling the thumb’s more complex motion. The fingers will have four tendon attachment points. One on the top side of the first and second segment of the finger each, and similarly for the bottom (palmar side) of the finger. The third segment of the finger will be mechanically linked to the motion of the second joint to cut down on how many motors are needed. There will likely be fourteen motors. Eight of them will reside in the forearm, driving the tendons. The other six will be in the hand, controlling the splaying of the fingers and the motion of the base joint of the thumb.