Regulation and control of LARM Hand III

This paper addresses the problem of regulation and control of the grasp in a three finger robotic hand. In particular, the operation of a built prototype of LARM Hand III has been investigated. This robotic hand has been designed and built at LARM: Laboratory of Robotics and Mechatronics in Cassino. Two control algorithms have been developed for its controlled operation. The first one is a position control with a force threshold that limits the maximum grasping force to a given value. The second control algorithm is a force control with inner position loop that keeps the grasping force at a given value. The control algorithms have been implemented in the robotic hand by means of a virtual instrument in LabVIEW environment. A test-bed has been set up at LARM for experimentally validating the proposed algorithms. Results of experimental tests demonstrate the effectiveness and engineering feasibility of the proposed algorithms.