NRI: Small: Dexterous Manipulation with Underactuated Hands: Strategies, Control Primitives, and Design for Open-Source Hardware

这项拟议的工作将有助于对灵巧操作的基本理解，特别是如何利用传统上用于纯抓取任务的低维手来实现出色的操作能力。PI团队将研究如何将柔顺和欠驱动手的被动机械原理用于操作策略，包括振动粘滑、平衡点操作和手指步态，并开发低级别计划和控制方案，以实施适用于各种操作运动的计划和控制方案。这项工作将导致具有低维驱动和传感的通用机器人手的发展。此外，将重点放在通过快速原型技术进行开源传播的设计上，这将导致新的制造战略，以促进一系列领域的快速创新。拟议工作的一个关键线索是，将通过开源储存库免费提供简单的手工设计和控制方案。手将能够通过快速原型技术轻松而廉价地制造，降低昂贵的手硬件的进入门槛，并鼓励持续的设计改进。此外，该团队将通过耶鲁大学为大约20名来自顶尖操纵研究小组的学生和博士后提供的现场教程，围绕这些手启动一个用户社区。关于这项提案的教育和宣传部分，一个主要的重点是加强RoboticsCourseWare.org，这是国际机器人协会的机器人教学材料的开放获取库，以突出用于教育目的的开源和其他廉价的硬件平台。此外，还强调要让不同群体的本科生和高中生参与研究计划。

The proposed work will contribute to the fundamental understanding of dexterous manipulation, especially in how low-dimensional hands that have traditionally been used for pure grasping tasks can be leveraged for excellent manipulation capabilities. The PI team will investigate how the passive mechanics of compliant and underactuated hands can be utilized for manipulation strategies include vibrational stick-slip, equilibrium point manipulation, and finger gaiting, as well as develop low-level planning and control schemes to implement those for a wide range of manipulation movements. This work will lead to the development of general-purpose robot hands having low-dimensional actuation and sensing. Furthermore, the focus on design for open-source dissemination through rapid prototyping techniques will result in novel fabrication strategies in furtherance of fast innovation in a range of fields.A key thread of the proposed work is that simple hand designs and control schemes will be made freely available through an open-source repository. The hands will be able to be easily and inexpensively fabricated with rapid prototyping techniques, lower the entry barrier from expense hand hardware and encouraging continual design improvements. Additionally, the team will kick-start a user community around those hands through an on-site tutorial at Yale for approximately 20 students and postdocs from top manipulation research groups. For the education and outreach component of this proposal, a major thrust involves enhancing RoboticsCourseWare.org, the PI's open-access repository for robotics teaching materials, in order to highlight open-source and other inexpensive hardware platforms for educational purposes. A strong focus on involving a diverse group of undergraduates and high school students in the research plan is also highlighted.