Robot hand and humanoid robot having the same

• US 9,545,717 B2
• Filed: 01/04/2013
• Issued: 01/17/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/04/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Kim, Ji Young, Lee, Kwang Kyu, Kwon, Young Do, Roh, Kyung Shik
• Primary Examiner(s): Sample, Jonathan L
• Application Number:
  US13/734,062
• Publication Number:
  US 20130173055A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,474 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 13/025 comprising haptic means
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 15/0009 comprising multi-articulated fingers, e.g. resembling a human hand
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 3/04 involving servo mechanisms servo-actuated heads B25J15/02
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 9/1612 characterised by the hand, wrist, grip control
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/39466 Hand, gripper, end effector of manipulator
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/39497 Each finger can be controlled independently
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/39546 Map human grasps to manipulator grasps
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/40407 Master slave, master is replica of slave

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a control method of a robot hand including recognizing a pre-posture of user'"'"'s fingers using a master device, changing the shape of the robot hand according to the recognized pre-posture, recognizing a gripping motion of the user'"'"'s fingers using the master device, and executing a gripping motion of the robot hand according to a gripping posture corresponding to the recognized pre-posture.

Claims

1. A control method of a robot hand comprising:

recognizing, by one or more processors, one of a plurality of pre-postures of a user'"'"'s fingers using a master device;

judging a pre-posture of the robot hand corresponding to the recognized pre-posture of the user'"'"'s fingers, and changing the shape of the robot hand to correspond to the judged pre-posture of the robot hand, the robot hand including finger structures and a rotary joint, the changing including rotating the finger structures via the rotary joint about a longitudinal axis corresponding to a lengthwise direction of the robot hand;

recognizing a gripping motion of the user'"'"'s fingers using the master device; and

executing a gripping motion of the robot hand according to a gripping posture corresponding to the recognized pre-posture of the user'"'"'s fingers.

2. The control method according to claim 1, wherein the change of the shape of the robot hand comprises changing the shape of an adducted and abducted joint of the robot hand.

3. The control method according to claim 2, wherein the change of the shape of the robot hand further comprises fixing the adducted and abducted joint of the robot hand at designated rigidity after the change of the shape of the adducted and abducted joint of the robot hand.

4. The control method according to claim 1, wherein the execution of the gripping motion of the robot hand comprises estimating a distance between the tip of the user'"'"'s thumb and the tips of the remaining fingers as a width of an object, and estimating a mean distance from the user'"'"'s palm to the tips of the fingers gripping the object as a height of the object from the palm, in the recognized gripping motion of the user'"'"'s fingers.

5. The control method according to claim 4, wherein the execution of the gripping motion of the robot hand further comprises adjusting a distance between the tips of opposing finger structures of the robot hand according to the width of the object, and adjusting a distance from a base of the finger structures of the robot hand to the tips of the finger structures of the robot hand according to the height of the object from the palm.

6. The control method according to claim 1, wherein the execution of the gripping motion of the robot hand comprises adjusting angles of joints of the finger structures of the robot hand according to angles of joints of the user'"'"'s fingers in the recognized gripping motion of the user'"'"'s fingers.

7. The control method according to claim 6, wherein the execution of the gripping motion of the robot hand further comprises bending the finger structures at one side from among the opposing finger structures of the robot hand according to the angles of joints of the user'"'"'s remaining fingers, and bending the finger structures at the other side from among the opposing finger structures of the robot hand according to the angle of joints of the user'"'"'s thumb.

20. The control method of claim 1, wherein each of the finger structures is configured to be individually rotatable about the longitudinal axis corresponding to the lengthwise direction of the robot hand.

8. A control method of a robot hand comprising:

recognizing, by one or more processors, one of a plurality of pre-postures of a user'"'"'s fingers using a master device;

judging a pre posture of the robot hand corresponding to the recognized pre-posture of the user'"'"'s fingers and a gripping posture desired by the user from the recognized pre-posture of the user'"'"'s fingers;

changing the shape of the robot hand to correspond to the judged pre-posture of the robot hand, the robot hand including finger structures and a rotary joint, the changing including rotating the finger structures via the rotary joint about a longitudinal axis corresponding to a lengthwise direction of the robot hand;

recognizing a gripping motion of the user'"'"'s fingers using the master device; and

executing a gripping motion of the robot hand according to the judged gripping posture desired by the user.

9. The control method according to claim 8, wherein the change of the shape of the robot hand comprises changing the shape of an adducted and abducted joint of the robot hand.

10. The control method according to claim 8, wherein, in the judgment of the gripping posture desired by the user, the gripping posture desired by the user is judged as one of a pinch grip and a power grip.

11. The control method according to claim 10, wherein, in the judgment of the gripping posture desired by the user, the gripping posture desired by the user is judged as the power grip when proximal interphalangeal joints of the user'"'"'s fingers in the recognized pre-posture are bent at a reference angle or more.

12. The control method according to claim 11, wherein the execution of the gripping motion of the robot hand comprises executing the gripping motion of the robot hand by interpolating between the pre-posture of the robot hand and the power grip of the robot hand.

13. The control method according to claim 10, wherein, in the judgment of the gripping posture desired by the user, the gripping posture desired by the user is judged as a pinch grip when proximal interphalangeal joints of the user'"'"'s fingers in the recognized gripping motion are unfolded at below a reference angle.

14. The control method according to claim 13, wherein the execution of the gripping motion of the robot hand comprises executing the gripping motion of the robot hand by interpolating between the pre-posture of the robot hand and the pinch grip of the robot hand.

15. A control method of a robot hand comprising:

recognizing, by one or more processors, one of a plurality of pre-postures of a user'"'"'s fingers using a master device;

judging a pre-posture of the robot hand corresponding to the recognized pre-posture of the user'"'"'s fingers and changing the shape of the robot hand to correspond to the judged pre-posture of the robot hand, the robot hand including finger structures and a rotary joint, the changing including rotating the finger structures via the rotary joint about a longitudinal axis corresponding to a lengthwise direction of the robot hand; and

maintaining the shape of the robot hand when an amount of changing of angles of joints of the user'"'"'s fingers in the recognized pre-posture of the user'"'"'s fingers are smaller than a reference amount of changing.

16. The control method according to claim 15, wherein the maintenance of the shape of the robot hand includes maintaining the shape of an adducted and abducted joint of the robot hand when an amount of changing of the angle of the adducted and abducted joint of the user'"'"'s fingers is smaller than the reference amount of changing.

17. A control apparatus of a robot hand comprising:

an input unit configured to receive user motion information;

a storage unit configured to store a fixed posture of the robot hand;

a controller configured to control the overall operation of the robot hand; and

a plurality of driving units configured to drive respective joints of the robot hand,

wherein the controller is configured to recognize one of a plurality of pre-postures of a user'"'"'s fingers based on the user motion information, judges a pre-posture of the robot hand corresponding to the recognized pre-posture of the user'"'"'s fingers and controls each of the driving units to drive respective joints of the robot hand to change the shape of the robot hand to correspond to the judged pre-posture of the robot hand, recognizes a gripping motion of the user'"'"'s fingers based on the user motion information and to execute a gripping motion of the robot hand according to a gripping posture corresponding to the recognized pre-posture of the user'"'"'s fingers, the robot hand including finger structures and a rotary joint, the finger structures configured to be rotatable via the rotary joint about a longitudinal axis corresponding to a lengthwise direction of the robot hand.

18. The control apparatus of a robot hand according to claim 17, wherein the controller is configured to determine a gripping path of the robot hand by interpolating between the recognized pre-posture of the robot hand and a gripping posture of the robot hand.

19. The control apparatus of a robot hand according to claim 17, wherein the controller is configured to maintain the shape of the robot hand when changes of angles of joints of the user'"'"'s fingers in the recognized pre-posture are smaller than a reference change.