Tendon to Object Space: Evaluation of Anthropomorphic Finger for Human-Like Performance

This investigation tackles the issue of assessing performance by comparing the mechanical outputs to capabilities achieved by human fingers in terms of dexterity and versatility. Unlike previous designs which are limited in their performance, our novel mathematical formulation bridges the gap between the mechanical attributes of anthropomorphic tendon-driven fingers and the dexterity of human fingers. Our formulation translates the mechanical output from the tendon space to the object space. In order to evaluate the performance of an anthropomorphic tendon-driven robotic finger, we measured fingertip forces as reference for human-level performance. The data was then used to formulate performance metrics for the robotic fingers. By comparing the recorded forces with that of the simulated mechanical output of the robotic fingers with different tendon routing designs, we can qualitatively gauge the performance and versatility of the robotic fingers for various grasping and manipulation tasks. Our mathematical formulation thus provides a different perspective, enabling a comprehensive assessment of the performance of tendon-driven robotic fingers in terms of dexterity as well as versatility.