A straightforward and miniature implementation method of postural synergies to replicate human grasp characteristics accurately and intuitively

Postural synergies have great potential for replicating human grasp characteristics, simplify grasp control and reduce the number of hardware actuators required. However, due to their complex mapping relationship and jagged transmission ratio, the implemented mechanisms are always too bulky and loose, which greatly limits their application. With current solutions, the replication accuracy of motion characteristics or intuitive control is compromised, and hitherto no work in the literature has reported the replication errors. To overcome these limitations, we present a novel design framework to determine the actuation configuration, implementation scheme and physical parameters. In this way, the mechanism is miniaturized and can be compactly embedded in the palm of the hand. A self-contained synergistic robot hand with integrated mechanism, sensors and a suitable electrical system is built. The experiments demonstrate that the robot hand can accurately replicate the motion characteristics of two primary synergies, maintain intuitive control to simplify grasp control, has a good capability for anthropomorphic motion and can grasp different objects with versatile grasp functionality.