Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/11671
Title: Remote-controlled ambidextrous robot hand actuated by pneumatic muscles: from feasibility study to design and control algorithms
Authors: Akyürek, Emre
Advisors: Kalganova, T
Powell, R
Keywords: Robotics;Mechanical architectures;Phasing plane switch control;Sliding-mode control;Backstepping control
Issue Date: 2015
Publisher: Brunel University London
Abstract: This thesis relates to the development of the Ambidextrous Robot Hand engineered in Brunel University. Assigned to a robotic hand, the ambidextrous feature means that two different behaviours are accessible from a single robot hand, because of its fingers architecture which permits them to bend in both ways. On one hand, the robotic device can therefore behave as a right hand whereas, on another hand, it can behave as a left hand. The main contribution of this project is its ambidextrous feature, totally unique in robotics area. Moreover, the Ambidextrous Robot Hand is actuated by pneumatic artificial muscles (PAMs), which are not commonly used to drive robot hands. The type of the actuators consequently adds more originality to the project. The primary challenge is to reach an ambidextrous behaviour using PAMs designed to actuate non-ambidextrous robot hands. Thus, a feasibility study is carried out for this purpose. Investigating a number of mechanical possibilities, an ambidextrous design is reached with features almost identical for its right and left sides. A testbench is thereafter designed to investigate this possibility even further to design ambidextrous fingers using 3D printing and an asymmetrical tendons routing engineered to reduce the number of actuators. The Ambidextrous Robot Hand is connected to a remote control interface accessible from its website, which provides video streaming as feedback, to be eventually used as an online rehabilitation device. The secondary main challenge is to implement control algorithms on a robot hand with a range twice larger than others, with an asymmetrical tendons routing and actuated by nonlinear actuators. A number of control algorithms are therefore investigated to interact with the angular displacement of the fingers and the grasping abilities of the hand. Several solutions are found out, notably the implementations of a phasing plane switch control and a sliding-mode control, both specific to the architecture of the Ambidextrous Robot Hand. The implementation of these two algorithms on a robotic hand actuated by PAMs is almost as innovative as the ambidextrous design of the mechanical structure itself.
Description: This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University London
URI: http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/11671
Appears in Collections:Electronic and Computer Engineering
Dept of Electronic and Electrical Engineering Theses

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