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December 14, 2021Ilda, this is the name of the new artificial hand, light and compact, designed to be applied on any robot that has to perform tasks with typically human precision and dexterity: strong to crush a can, delicate to grab an egg without breaking it and skilful to cut a sheet of paper with scissors or pick up small objects with tweezers.
This is demonstrated by the study published in Nature Communications by a South Korean group led by Uikyum Kim of the Korea Institute of Machinery & Materials (Kimm) in Daejeon.
The strength of Ilda (Integrated Linkage-driven Dexterous Anthropomorphic) is the design of the mechanism, which allows you to enclose all the components necessary for movement and touch in an anthropomorphic hand that weighs only 1.1 kilograms and is 218 mm long. The five fingers, moved by the actuators integrated in the palm of the hand, are equipped with 20 joints and 15 degrees of freedom of movement: their tip can exert a force equal to 34 Newtons. "The original kinematic design of the hand mechanisms allows for a device that combines strength, agility and compactness", comments Antonio Frisoli, head of the Human-Robot Interaction Area of the Mechanical Intelligence Institute of the Sant'Anna School of Pisa. . "A similar hand could be useful for industrial robots that collaborate with humans, but also for those robots that have to do precision tasks by manipulating objects typically used by humans ".
The research center of Sant'Anna in Pisa
The Artificial Hands Area of the Institute of BioRobotics conducts research in the fields of mechatronics and human-machine interfaces with the aim of developing robotic hands and arms to be used as prostheses controlled by the thought. The research area is involved in national and international projects in the field of cognitive robotics, human-robot interaction, neuro-controlled prostheses. The main lines of research include: upper limb prostheses; robotic hands with high dexterity and robust tactile sensors; wearable devices and algorithms for sensory feedback; non-invasive human-machine interfaces for natural grip control and intuitive perception of sensory feedback.
The spin-off Prensilia was born from the intense research activity in 2009, which develops and markets robotic hands for research and industry all over the world.
The Artificial Hands Area includes the Human Robot Interaction Laboratory (HRI), coordinated by Dr. Marco Controzzi, and is involved in the activities of the REPAIR Lab (Rehabilitation Engineering and Prosthetics Applied Innovation & Research), a joint laboratory with INAIL - Centro Prosthesis of Vigorso di Budrio (Bologna).
The HRI laboratory develops robust artificial tactile sensors, human-robot interaction prototypes, mechanisms for a safe and efficient interaction between man and robot.
The REPAIR LAb, on the other hand, aims to create a link between research activities and clinical rehabilitation.