Modelling and identification of soft pads for robotic hands

In this work the static and dynamic characterization of viscoelastic pads for robotic hands is performed. A quasi-linear model, developed to describe the behavior of human hand pads and, more generally, of biological tissues, is adopted in order to overcome the problems tied to classical (linear) models, often used in the robotic field. Through experimental tests, the values of the parameters of this model have been found for two different materials (a polyurethane gel and a silicon rubber) which show a behavior similar to that of human pads and seems very suitable for robotic applications. Finally, the model has been extended with the use of digital filters, making the identification process very straightforward. © 2005 IEEE.