Abstract

Developing robot hands with multi-degree-of-freedom is one of the topics that researchers have recently begun to improve the limitation by adding flexibility and dexterity. In this study, an articulated servo-pneumatic robot hand system with direct-drive joints has been developed whose main feature is the minimization of the dimension. The servo-pneumatic system is advantageous to fabricate a dexterous robot hand system due to the high torque-to-weight and torque-to-volume ratio. This enables the design of a finger joint with an integrated rotary vane type actuator which produces high output torque without reduction gears, being very robust. In order to control the servo-pneumatic finger joints, a miniature proportional valve that can be attached to the robot hand is required. In this paper, a flapper nozzle type 4/3-way proportional directional valve has been designed and tested. The experimental results show that the developed valve can control a finger joint satisfactorily without much vibratory joint movements and acoustic noises.

Keywords

• Robot hands;
• Finger joints;
• Flapper nozzle valve;
• 4/3-way proportional valve;
• Pneumatic rotator

• 로봇 손;
• 손가락 관절;
• 플래머 노즐 밸브;
• 4/3-way 비례제어 밸브;
• 공압 로테이터;