DLR multisensory articulated hand I and II

This paper presents the development of DLR Hand I and II in the last years. DLR Hand I is a multisensory 4-finger articulated hand, characterized by the fact that all 12 active joints (3 for each finger) are integrated into the fingers and the palm. With 112 sensors, around 1000 mechanical and around 1500 electrical components the DLR Hand I is one of the most complex robot hands ever built. Its key element is the artificial muscle, a small but powerful linear actuator, which seems to be one of the first real electromechanical alternatives to hydraulic or pneumatic actuators. Based on the experimental results on the DLR Hand I, the DLR Hand II has been developed with four distinct advantages: 1. Reconfigurable grasping palm by an extra motion between the thumb and the little finger; 2. an open skeleton structure for easy maintenance 3. a new communication architecture which enables a reduction of the cabling to the hand from 400 in the Hand I to only 12; and 4. a tiny 6 DOF force torque sensor is mounted on each fingertip for fine manipulation. Also the output force at fingertip is increased from 10N to 30N. The new hand will play a key role in the service robots.