Design and Fabrication of a Soft Robotic Hand and Arm System

We present the hardware design and fabrication
of a soft arm and hand for physical human-robot interaction.
The six DOF arm has two air-filled force sensing modules which
passively absorb impact and provide contact force feedback.
The arm has an inflated outer cover which encloses the arm’s
underlying mechanisms and force sensing modules. An internal
projector projects a display on the inside of the cover which is
visible from the outside. On the end of the arm is a 3D printed
hand with air-filled, force sensing fingertips. We validate the
efficacy of the outer cover design by bending the arm to reach
out and grasp an object. The outer cover performs as intended,
providing enough volume and range of motion for the arm to
move, and stretching at the elastic relief features in the cover.
We also validate the hand design by implementing a grasping
algorithm in which the fingers follow a closing trajectory, make
contact, then maintain a given range of fingertip pressure. Using
this algorithm, the hand is able to gently grasp a soft object.

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