Design of an Adaptive Modular Anthropomorphic Dexterous Hand for Human-like Manipulation

TL;DR

The study tackles the challenge of achieving human-like dexterity with minimal actuation by proposing a modular, anthropomorphic hand whose design is guided by hand synergies and biomechanics. It introduces a four-DoF modular finger driven by two actuators and a hybrid gear-elastic drive at the MCP, enabling adaptive, compliant grasping. A five-finger prototype is built and validated through kinematic tests, dexterity assessments across Feix grasp types, and tool-use demonstrations. The work provides a scalable, biomimetic platform for dexterous manipulation and highlights future directions in actuation optimization, tactile sensing, and task-specific control.

Abstract

Biological synergies have emerged as a widely adopted paradigm for dexterous hand design, enabling human-like manipulation with a small number of actuators. Nonetheless, excessive coupling tends to diminish the dexterity of hands. This paper tackles the trade-off between actuation complexity and dexterity by proposing an anthropomorphic finger topology with 4 DoFs driven by 2 actuators, and by developing an adaptive, modular dexterous hand based on this finger topology. We explore the biological basis of hand synergies and human gesture analysis, translating joint-level coordination and structural attributes into a modular finger architecture. Leveraging these biomimetic mappings, we design a five-finger modular hand and establish its kinematic model to analyze adaptive grasping and in-hand manipulation. Finally, we construct a physical prototype and conduct preliminary experiments, which validate the effectiveness of the proposed design and analysis.

Figures (8)

• Figure 1: Illustration of the biomimetic mechanical configuration of the modular finger
• Figure 2: Comparison between the human hand configuration and the modular five-finger hand configuration
• Figure 3: (1). Modular finger transmission chain with adaptive coupling capability; (2). Comparison between the human hand configuration and the modular five-finger hand configuration
• Figure 4: (a) Schematic diagram of the computational process from the driving space to the workspace; (b) Visualization of the workspace using the Monte Carlo method and its projections on the XOY, YOZ, and XOZ planes.
• Figure 5: The adaptive UCM kinematic model of the finger. Notably, for clarity in illustration, the idler gear set is abstractly depicted using line segments of distinct colors.