A proposed software framework for studying the grasp stability of underactuated fingers

The analysis of end-effector grasp stability is a critical issue, especially for underactuated hands, which have a number of degrees of freedom higher than that of degrees of actuation. Although underactuated systems can be self-adaptive, robust, easy to control and cost-effective, only a limited attention in the Literature has been given to their grasp performance. It was largely unknown how the geometry of the fingers and the object to be grasped, and the actuation torques applied to the phalanges affect these performance aspects. The objective of this research is to introduce a software framework which can help an operator to fulfill an optimal finger design, thus ensuring stable and efficient grasp conditions.