Control Theory of Multi-fingered Hands

Here you ll find a comprehensive insight into the intelligence and dexterity of robotic multi-fingered hands from both the physical and control-theoretic viewpoints. It focuses on the problem of how to control dexterous movements of fingers interacting with an object in the execution of everyday tasks. It moves on to clarify what kinds of sensory-motor coordinated signals are necessary and sufficient for realizing stable grasping as well as object manipulation. The hand is an agency of the brain; it reflects activities of the brain and thereby can be seen as a mirror to the mind. The dexterity of the hand has been investigated widely in developmental psychology and in anthropology. Since robotics launched in the mid-1970s, numerous multi-fingered hands mimicking the human hand have been designed and made in a number of universities and research institutes, in addition to sophisticated prosthetic hands with plural fingers.
Control Theory of Multi-fingered Hands presents a comprehensive insight into the intelligence and dexterity of robotic multi-fingered hands from both the physical and control- theoretic viewpoints. The book:
focuses on the problem of how to control dexterous movements of fingers interacting with an object in the execution of everyday tasks;
clarifies what kinds of sensory-motor coordinated signals are necessary and sufficient for realising stable grasping and/or object manipulation, in particular, the synergistic choices of control gains in co-activation signals for finger muscles and tendons crucial in realising secure pinching motions;
derives a mathematical model of the dynamics of a complicated mechanism of multiple fingers with multiple joints physically interacting; and,
considers the problem of how to recreate the function of "blind grasping".
Control Theory of Multi-fingered Hands will be a useful reference for postgraduate students and researchers in this field, as well as engineers and roboticists.