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 Title: |
US5762390:
Underactuated mechanical finger with return actuation
[ Derwent Title ]
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| Country: |
US United States of America
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| Inventor: |
Gosselin, Clement M.; Charlesbourg, Canada
Laliberte , Thierry; Loretteville, Canada
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| Assignee: |
Universite Laval, Quebec City, Canada
other patents from UNIVERSITE LAVAL (599105) (approx. 78)
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| Published / Filed: |
1998-06-09
/ 1996-07-16
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| Application Number: |
US1996000680824
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| IPC Code: |
Advanced:
B25J 15/00;
B25J 15/10;
Core:
more...
IPC-7:
B25J 15/10;
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| ECLA Code: |
B25J15/00B; B25J15/10C;
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| U.S. Class: |
Current:
294/106;
294/907;
901/033;
901/039;
Original:
294/106;
294/907;
901/033;
901/039;
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| Field of Search: |
294/106,111,115,907
901/031-36,39,46
623/057,63-65
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| Priority Number: |
| 1996-07-16 |
US1996000680824 |
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| Abstract: |
This invention provides a finger with three phalanges and three degrees of freedom for a flexible and versatile mechanical gripper which uses only a limited number of actuators. The finger is robust, can provide large grasping forces and can perform power grasps as well as pinch grasps. The mechanism used in the finger has an additional mechanism maintaining the last phalanx orthogonal to the palm in order to allow the gripper to perform pinch grasps on objects of different sizes. For purposes of fine control, tactile sensors as well as potentiometers are included in the finger. The mechanical gripper designed using these fingers allows the stable grasping of a wide class of objects while specifying only two coordinates (the force or position for closing the whole finger and the orientation of the finger) for each of the fingers. The mechanical gripper has three fingers and three phalanges per finger. When performing a grasp, the fingers will progressively envelope the object to be grasped and eventually reach a static equilibrium. Underactuation between the fingers of the gripper is also possible.
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| Attorney, Agent or Firm: |
Swabey Ogilvy Renault ;
Anglehart, James ;
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| Primary / Asst. Examiners: |
Kramer, Dean;
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| INPADOC Legal Status: |
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Family Legal Status Report
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| Family: |
Show 3 known family members
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First Claim:
Show all 18 claims |
We claim:
1. A mechanical finger comprising:
- mounting means for mounting said finger to a mechanical palm of a gripping mechanism, said palm having a palm plane;
- a first phalanx pivotally connected at a proximal end by said mounting means to said palm;
- a second phalanx pivotally connected at a proximal end to a distal end of the first phalanx;
- a third phalanx pivotally connected at a proximal end to a distal end of the second phalanx, said first, second and third phalanges pivoting about parallel pivot axes;
- a differential driving actuation means connected to said first, second and third phalanges and a controllable actuator mounted to said palm, said actuation means either causing said first phalanx to pivot or said second phalanx to pivot depending on load on said first phalanx, and either causing said second phalanx to pivot or said third phalanx to pivot depending on load on said second phalanx, said first phalanx being pivoted by said differential actuator means before said second phalanx in absence of load on said first phalanx, and said second phalanx being pivoted by said differential actuator means before said third phalanx in absence of load on said second phalanx; and
- a return actuation means connected to said palm and said first, second and third phalanges for maintaining a contact surface of said third phalanx substantially orthogonal to said palm plane during movement of said controllable actuator when said first and second phalanges are under no load;
- wherein said driving actuation means comprises;
- first and second drive links pivotally connected at a radially inner end to said first and second phalanges respectively to pivot about said pivot axes thereof;
- a first drive coupling link pivotally connected at one end to said first drive link and at an opposite end to said second drive link; and
- a second drive coupling link pivotally connected at one and to said second drive link and at an opposite end to said third phalanx;
- said first drive link being connected to said controllable actuator, whereby said driving actuation means requires only four pivotally connected links to drive said phalanges.
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| Background / Summary: |
Show background / summary
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| Drawing Descriptions: |
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| Description: |
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| Forward References: |
Show 13 U.S. patent(s) that reference this one
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| Foreign References: |
None
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| Other Abstract Info: |
DERABS G98-347034
DERG98-347034
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| Other References: |
Shimojima, H., Yamamoto, K. and Kawakita, K., "A study of Grippers With Multiple Degrees of Mobility", JSME International Journal, vol. 30, No. 621, pp. 515-522, 1987.
(8 pages)
Cited by 2 patents
Crowder, R.M., "An Anthropomorphic Robotic End Effector", Journal of Robotics and Autonomous Systems, vol. 7, No. 4, pp. 253-268, Nov. 1991.
G. Guo, X. Qian and W.A. Gruver, "A Single-DOF Multi-Function Prosthetic Hand Mechanism with an Automatically Variable Speed Transmission", Proceedings of the ASME Mechanisms Conference, Phoenix, vol. DE-45, pp. 149-154, 1992.
M. Rakik, "Multifingered Robot Hand with Selfadaptability", Robotics and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing, vol. 5, No. 2-3, pp. 269-276, 1989.
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