A Platform for Grasp Performance Assessment in Compliant or Underactuated Hands

This paper presents the design and evaluation of a platform for the assessment of the performance of compliant or underactuated hands. The position of objects relative to the hand can be varied in order to assess the successful grasp region. The boundary positions of this region can be measured with a precision of 3 mm. In addition, the force required to pull an object all the way out of the hand from a stable initial configuration is measured with a precision of 0.2 N for frictionless grasping. These experiments are proposed as benchmark tests to quantify the functional performance of compliant or underactuated robotic hands. This platform considers planar symmetrical grasps, where objects can move along the line of symmetry. An innovative approach to emulate frictionless grasps of circular objects is proposed as well.