Design and Validation of an Under-actuated Robotic Finger with Synchronous Tendon Routing

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2512.10349v1
• Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2025 07:05:43 GMT
• Title: Design and Validation of an Under-actuated Robotic Finger with Synchronous Tendon Routing
• Abstract summary: Tendon-driven robotic fingers provide advantages for dexterous manipulation through reduced actuator requirements.<n>This paper presents an under-actuated tendon-driven robotic finger (UTRF) featuring a synchronous tendon routing.<n>The proposed routing achieves predictable stiffness and reliable grasping performance with a minimal actuator count.
• Score: 3.9881780222416316
• License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Abstract: Tendon-driven under-actuated robotic fingers provide advantages for dexterous manipulation through reduced actuator requirements and simplified mechanical design. However, achieving both high load capacity and adaptive compliance in a compact form remains challenging. This paper presents an under-actuated tendon-driven robotic finger (UTRF) featuring a synchronous tendon routing that mechanically couples all joints with fixed angular velocity ratios, enabling the entire finger to be actuated by a single actuator. This approach significantly reduces the number of actuators required in multi-finger hands, resulting in a lighter and more compact structure without sacrificing stiffness or compliance. The kinematic and static models of the finger are derived, incorporating tendon elasticity to predict structural stiffness. A single-finger prototype was fabricated and tested under static loading, showing an average deflection prediction error of 1.0 mm (0.322% of total finger length) and a measured stiffness of 1.2x10^3 N/m under a 3 kg tip load. Integration into a five-finger robotic hand (UTRF-RoboHand) demonstrates effective object manipulation across diverse scenarios, confirming that the proposed routing achieves predictable stiffness and reliable grasping performance with a minimal actuator count.

Related papers

• A Tendon-Driven Five-Fingered Hand with Distributed Tactile Perception for Dexterous Manipulation [0.0]
  We propose a novel design of tendon-driven five-fingered hand with dis-tributed tactile perception.<n>With a soft-rigid-hybrid structure employed, both compliance and operational force are endowed to the hand.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2026-08-26T09:01:36Z)
• AdaDexGrasp: Adaptive Dexterous Grasping via 3D Visuo-Tactile Representation Fusion [60.79507611737292]
  Humans achieve stable and adaptive grasps by seamlessly integrating visual perception and tactile feedback.<n>Existing robotic grasping approaches rely on visual inputs and lack mechanisms for tactile-guided adaptation after contact.<n>We propose a unified visuo-tactile-fusion grasping framework that integrates grasp generation, feasibility prediction, and adaptive refinement.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2026-08-06T16:29:11Z)
• Design and stability analysis of an underactuated hand with passively rotating fingers [1.3649494534428745]
  This paper presents an innovative design and stability analysis of an underactuated robotic finger with spatial mobility.<n>The finger architecture incorporates a revolute joint at its base, enabling passive spatial rotation that facilitates both cylindrical and spherical grasping.<n>The integration of underactuation-both within individual fingers and among multiple fingers-reduces mechanical complexity, cost, and control demands while preserving functional adaptability.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2026-07-21T10:37:18Z)
• Soft Robotic Exogloves for Dexterous Mobility -- Towards Personalized Rehabilitation [0.0]
  Soft robotic exogloves can provide hand rehabilitation and assistance.<n> fitting these gloves often relies on standardized measurements not tailored to the individual.<n>We present the design, fabrication, modeling, and testing of a personalized pneumatically-actuated soft robotic exoglove.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2026-07-08T22:48:29Z)
• Friction Characterization of a Cable-Driven Differential Actuation System for Lower-Limb Exoskeletons [42.628421392139]
  Lower-limb exoskeletons require actuation systems that can provide accurate joint torque control.<n> Conventional architectures often rely on independently actuated joints and joint-level torque sensors.<n>This paper presents a novel differential actuation architecture for hip-knee flexion/extension.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2026-06-14T19:47:32Z)
• AetheRock: An Arm-Worn Robot Teaching System for Force-Guided Vision-Tactile Learning [56.20593626288444]
  AetheRock is an arm-worn device featuring a modular and easily manufactured visuo-tactile sensor, GelSlim-MiniFab, at the fingertip.<n>We propose ForceVT, a representation learning framework that uses force and vision to guide fidelity-agnostic tactile learning.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2026-06-08T17:38:57Z)
• Robotic Dexterous Manipulation via Anisotropic Friction Modulation using Passive Rollers [4.9697268424579635]
  Controlling friction at the fingertip is fundamental to dexterous manipulation, yet remains difficult to realize in robotic hands.<n>We present the design and analysis of a robotic fingertip equipped with passive rollers that can be selectively braked or pivoted to modulate contact friction and constraint directions.<n>Results demonstrate the versatility of passive roller fingertips as a low-complexity, mechanically efficient approach to friction modulation, advancing the development of more adaptable and robust robotic manipulation.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2026-03-29T00:05:53Z)
• PHANTOM Hand [12.871356369910323]
  Tendon-driven underactuated hands excel in adaptive grasping but often suffer from kinematic unpredictability and highly non-actuated force transmission.<n>We introduce the PHANTOM Hand (Hybrid Precision-Augmented Compliance): a modular, human-scale system featuring 6 actuators and 15 degrees of freedom (DoFs)<n>We propose a unified framework that bridges the gap between precise analytic shaping and robust compliant grasping.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2026-03-24T12:52:18Z)
• TiBCLaG: A Trigger-induced Bistable Compliant Laparoscopic Grasper [2.691739266364575]
  Industrial laparoscopic graspers use multi-link rigid mechanisms manufactured to tight tolerances, resulting in high manufacturing and assembly costs.<n>This work presents the design and proof-of-concept validation of a monolithic, fully compliant, bistable, laparoscopic grasper.<n>The device integrates a compliant trigger and a compliant gripper end-effector, coupled via a control push-rod, to achieve stable grasping without continuous user input.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2026-03-19T07:15:00Z)
• Safe Whole-Body Loco-Manipulation via Combined Model and Learning-based Control [46.47619556874003]
  We propose a whole-body controller that combines a model-based admittance control for the manipulator arm with a Reinforcement Learning policy for legged locomotion.<n>The admittance controller maps external wrenches--such as those applied by a human during physical interaction--into desired end-effector velocities, allowing for compliant behavior.<n>We validate our approach in both simulation and hardware using the Unitree Go2 quadruped robot with a 6-DoF arm and wrist-mounted 6-DoF Force/Torque sensor.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2026-03-02T22:31:12Z)
• Tendon-Driven Reciprocating and Non-Reciprocating Motion via Snapping Metabeams [0.0]
  A tendon-driven mechanism consisting of spiral-based metabeams was developed for producing both reciprocating and non-reciprocating motion.<n>The spiral geometry allows large reversible deformation even when made from a relatively stiff material such as PLA.<n>The developed mechanism was further integrated into a swimming robot, where tendon-driven fins exhibited two distinct actuation modes.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2026-02-20T16:35:51Z)
• Dynamic Modeling and MPC for Locomotion of Tendon-Driven Soft Quadruped [0.0]
  SLOT (Soft Legged Omnidirectional Tetrapod) is a tendon-driven soft quadruped robot with 3D-printed TPU legs.<n>Each leg is modeled as a deformable continuum using discrete Cosserat rod theory.<n>A modular whole-body modeling framework is introduced, in which compliant leg dynamics are represented.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2026-02-18T11:14:22Z)
• UniForce: A Unified Latent Force Model for Robot Manipulation with Diverse Tactile Sensors [51.88112610411651]
  We propose a novel unified tactile representation learning framework that learns a shared latent force space across diverse tactile sensors.<n>UniForce reduces cross-sensor domain shift by jointly modeling inverse dynamics (image-to-force) and forward dynamics (force-to-image)<n>To avoid reliance on expensive external force/torque (F/T) sensors, we exploit static equilibrium and collect force-paired data via direct sensor--object--sensor interactions.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2026-02-01T11:03:01Z)
• Development of the Bioinspired Tendon-Driven DexHand 021 with Proprioceptive Compliance Control [10.382085972192723]
  This letter presents Dex-Hand 021, a high-performance, cable-driven five-finger robotic hand with 12 active and 7 passive degrees of freedom (DoFs)<n>We propose a proprioceptive force-sensing-based admittance control method to enhance manipulation.<n> Experimental results demonstrate its superior performance: a single-finger load capacity exceeding 10 N, repeatability under 0.001 m, and force estimation errors below 0.2 N.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2025-11-05T14:07:03Z)
• RobotDancing: Residual-Action Reinforcement Learning Enables Robust Long-Horizon Humanoid Motion Tracking [50.200035833530876]
  RobotDancing is a simple, scalable framework that predicts residual joint targets to explicitly correct dynamics discrepancies.<n>It can track multi-minute, high-energy behaviors (jumps, spins, cartwheels) and deploys zero-shot to hardware with high motion tracking quality.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2025-09-25T03:30:34Z)
• Fluidically Innervated Lattices Make Versatile and Durable Tactile Sensors [43.33741954317892]
  We introduce a passive soft robotic fingertip with integrated tactile sensing, fabricated using a 3D-printed elastomer lattice with embedded air channels.<n>This sensorization approach, termed fluidic innervation, transforms the lattice into a tactile sensor by detecting pressure changes within sealed air channels.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2025-07-28T18:00:04Z)
• Deformer: Dynamic Fusion Transformer for Robust Hand Pose Estimation [59.3035531612715]
  Existing methods often struggle to generate plausible hand poses when the hand is heavily occluded or blurred. In videos, the movements of the hand allow us to observe various parts of the hand that may be occluded or blurred in a single frame. We propose the Deformer: a framework that implicitly reasons about the relationship between hand parts within the same image.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2023-03-09T02:24:30Z)
• High-Robustness, Low-Transferability Fingerprinting of Neural Networks [78.2527498858308]
  This paper proposes Characteristic Examples for effectively fingerprinting deep neural networks. It features high-robustness to the base model against model pruning as well as low-transferability to unassociated models.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2021-05-14T21:48:23Z)
• Learning Compliance Adaptation in Contact-Rich Manipulation [81.40695846555955]
  We propose a novel approach for learning predictive models of force profiles required for contact-rich tasks. The approach combines an anomaly detection based on Bidirectional Gated Recurrent Units (Bi-GRU) and an adaptive force/impedance controller.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2020-05-01T05:23:34Z)

This list is automatically generated from the titles and abstracts of the papers in this site.

This site does not guarantee the quality of this site (including all information) and is not responsible for any consequences.