Design and Development of Compliant Anatomical Palmar Mechanism (CAPM) to Adaptively Reconfigure Precision/Power Grasps

The design of a robotic hand incorporating a critical multi-DOF palm depends on studies of the anatomical structure of the human palm model. Shaping of this large grasping region is simplified to depend on arches formed by relative movement of the phalanges and metacarpal. Compliant Anatomic Palmar Mechanism (CAPM) replaces these arches to form an interconnected compliant structure that can be used in grasping to conform to contacting objects to augment stability. FEM is used to simulate the range of intrinsic movement of the palmar surface. Plotting these results determines the kinematic relationship by relating thumb rotation and metacarpal translation to the deformation of the palmar region.