Convergence Accelerator Track M: Bio-Inspired Design of Robot Hands for Use-Driven Dexterity

这个项目的目标是创造一个具有变革性的，以生物为灵感的机器人手的重新设计。一种新的机械手设计方法可以带来具有全国影响的成果。例如，据估计，有40万美国人患有某种形式的上肢丧失。然而，现有设备的弃用率很高，不能满足基本需求。许多美国人被安置在不健康或危险的职业环境中，包括接触有毒物质，因为这些职业目前需要人类的灵活性。这种情况甚至出现在像回收这样看似平凡的工作中。劳动力短缺阻碍了赋予中型农民权力和稳定粮食供应的努力。重新设计具有更大功能灵活性的机器人手可以帮助解决这些和其他挑战，改善个人健康和国家环境。为了实现这一目标，该项目将把终端用户、手外科医生、人体运动科学家、材料化学家和机器人设计师聚集在一起，共同开发一种“湿件”概念，即在坚硬的骨架周围包裹一层渗透柔软多孔材料的离子液体。这种方法结合了力量和灵活性，关节和肌腱的润滑，内置接触和本体感觉传感，与世界的柔软接触，内在和外在肌肉的分离，以及防水，易于清洁的外部。该团队将采取一种融合的研究方法，最初将重点放在上肢丧失的最终用户身上。三个研究重点是：(1)优化手部解剖功能灵巧性，包括一个可解释的优化工具，以促进与最终用户、手外科医生和其他团队成员的解剖选择沟通；(2)仿生机器人手原型工程设计理念，首次获得肌腱和关节润滑结合全手本体感觉传感和接触传感；(3)有针对性地设计新型活性聚合物，以创造内在肌肉，以提高轻巧紧凑的包装的灵活性。拓展和指导活动包括启动本科生研究网络和开发实践演示，利用这一研究工作的跨学科性质，吸引代表性不足的学生从事机器人和STEM领域的职业。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The goal of this project is to create a transformative, bio-inspired re-design of the robotic hand. A new approach to robot hand design can bring results with national impact. For example, it has been estimated that 400,000 Americans are living with some form of upper limb loss. Yet existing devices show high rates of abandonment and are not meeting basic needs. Many Americans are placed in occupational circumstances that are unhealthful or hazardous, including exposure to toxic materials due to the current need for human dexterity in these occupations. Such circumstances arise even in tasks as apparently mundane as recycling. Labor shortages hamper efforts to empower the medium sized farmer and stabilize our food supply. Redesigning the robot hand for greater functional dexterity can help to address these and other challenges, improving individual health and national circumstances. To accomplish this goal, the project will bring together end-users, hand surgeons, human motion scientists, materials chemists, and robot designers to develop a "wetware" concept for a robotic hand with an ionic liquid permeating soft, porous material surrounding a hard skeleton. This approach enables combined strength and dexterity, lubrication of joints and tendons, built-in contact and proprioceptive sensing, soft contact with the world, separation of intrinsic vs. extrinsic muscles, and a waterproof, easy to clean exterior. The team will pursue a convergent research approach with initial focus on end-users with upper limb loss. Three research thrusts are (1) optimization of hand anatomy for functional dexterity, including an explainable optimization tool to facilitate communication of anatomical choices with end-users, hand surgeons, and other team members; (2) prototype engineering of the bio-inspired robot hand design concept to obtain for the first time ever tendon and joint lubrication in conjunction with proprioceptive sensing and contact sensing all over the hand; and (3) targeted design of novel active polymers to create intrinsic muscles to enhance dexterity in a lightweight and compact package. Outreach and mentoring activities include initiation of an undergraduate research network and development of hands-on demos that leverage the interdisciplinary nature of this research effort to attract underrepresented students to careers in robotics and STEM.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.