Feasibility of 2-D Multifingered Grasps

Y. Guan and H. Zhang

Keywords

Multifingered hand, grasp analysis, grasp synthesis, grasp feasibility,global optimization

Abstract

Planning of grasps and dextrous manipulation for a multifingered hand requires the feasibility of all grasps involved. In this paper, we address the problem of determining if a planar grasp of an arbitrary polygonal object by a multifingered hand is physically feasible. We define a grasp in terms of a set of contact pairs between the topological features of the hand and the object. Our definition of a feasible grasp takes into account both kinematic constraints and force constraints. These constraints are formulated in terms of equalities and inequalities in variables of the object and hand configurations. The feasibility of a grasp then becomes equivalent to the simultaneous satisfaction of all constraints. This allows us to cast the analysis conveniently as a constrained nonlinear global optimization model and to solve it numerically with commercial software. The effectiveness of our approach is illustrated with an example of grasping a rectangular object using a two-fingered hand. Two potential applications of the presented approach are also discussed.

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