02449nas a2200193 4500008004100000022003900041024003600080245009400116210006900210260001300279490001700292520174200309100001802051700001402069700001502083700002002098700001502118856012202133 2018 eng d aPrint 1552-3098; Onlline 1941-0468 aD.O.I. 10.1109/TRO.2018.283040700aTowards Dexterous Manipulation with Augmented Adaptive Synergies: the Pisa/IIT SoftHand 20 aTowards Dexterous Manipulation with Augmented Adaptive Synergies c06/2018 0 vEarly Access3 a

In the recent years, a clear trend towards simplification emerged in the development of robotic hands. The use of soft robotic approaches has been a useful tool in this prospective, enabling complexity reduction by embodying part of grasping intelligence in the hand mechanical structure. Several hand prototypes designed according to such principles have accomplished good results in terms of grasping simplicity, robustness, and reliability. Among them, the Pisa/IIT SoftHand demonstrated the feasibility of a large variety of grasping tasks, by means of only one actuator and an opportunely designed tendon driven differential mechanism. However, the use of a single degree of actuation prevents the execution of more complex tasks, like fine pre-shaping of fingers and in-hand manipulation. While possible in theory, simply doubling the Pisa/IIT SoftHand actuation system has several disadvantages, e.g. in terms of space and mechanical complexity. To overcome these limitations we propose a novel design framework for tendon driven mechanisms, where the main idea is to turn transmission friction from a disturbance into a design tool. In this way the degrees of actuation can be doubled with little additional complexity.

By leveraging on this idea we design a novel robotic hand, the Pisa/IIT SoftHand 2. We present here its design, modeling, control, and experimental validation. The hand demonstrates that by opportunely combining only two degrees of actuation with hand softness, a large variety of grasping and manipulation tasks can be performed only relying on the intelligence embodied in the mechanism. Examples include rotating objects with different shapes, opening a jar, pouring coffee from a glass.

1 aDella Santina1 aPiazza, C1 aGrioli, G.1 aCatalano, M. G.1 aBicchi, A. uhttp://95.110.227.16/publications/towards-dexterous-manipulation-augmented-adaptive-synergies-pisaiit-softhand-2.html01511nas a2200193 4500008003900000245004800039210004800087260004100135520094000176653001301116100001401129700001801143700002101161700002001182700001501202700001701217700001501234856006801249 2016 d00aToward an Adaptive Foot for Natural Walking0 aToward an Adaptive Foot for Natural Walking aCancun, Mexico, November 15-17, 20163 a

Many walking robot presented in literature stand
on rigid flat feet, with a few notable exceptions that embed
flexibility in their feet to optimize the energetic cost of walking.
This paper proposes a novel adaptive robot foot design, whose
main goal is to ease the task of standing and walking on uneven
terrains. After explaining the rationale behind our design
approach, we present the design of the SoftFoot, a foot able
to comply with uneven terrains and to absorb shocks thanks to
its intrinsic adaptivity, while still being able to rigidly support
the stance, maintaining a rather extended contact surface,
and effectively enlarging the equivalent support polygon. The
paper introduces the robot design and prototype and presents
preliminary validation and comparison versus a rigid flat foot
with comparable footprint and sole.

10aRobotics1 aPiazza, C1 aDella Santina1 aGasparri, G., M.1 aCatalano, M. G.1 aGrioli, G.1 aGarabini, M.1 aBicchi, A. uhttp://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=7803423