A mechanism for touch control of a sagittal five-link finger-hand

A five-link planar model of a hand with one finger is developed. The actuators are analogous to muscle force generators. Three control problems, stability, maintaining a constrained motion, and control of the force of constraint, are considered in this model. Two feedback loops-one time-invariant and one time-varying-appear to be adequate for control purposes. Digital computer simulations are presented to confirm the control strategy and its effectiveness.