Workspace of 2D multifingered manipulation

The knowledge of the workspace of a multi-fingered hand is very important in planning a dexterous manipulation task. In this paper, we propose a novel approach to compute and visualize the workspace of a multifingered robotic hand manipulating an object in the planar case. Based on optimization models, our approach is numerical, in which the kinematic feasibility of a grasp at a given position is determined first, and then the range of rotation at this position is computed. The algorithm and its effectiveness are illustrated by examples. It is possible to extend our approach to the spatial case.