Analysis of Underactuated Mechanical Grippers

Abstract

This paper presents the concept of underactuation applied to grippers and mechanical hands. The main objective of this work is the kinematic analysis and design of underactuated mechanisms. First, the kinematic and static modeling of these mechanisms is addressed and a general kinetostatic model is proposed. Then, a two-degree-of-freedom underactuated gripper based on a five-bar planar mechanism is studied in order to illustrate the usefulness of the model in a context of analysis and design.