Grasp stability analysis considering the curvatures at contact points

Proposes a method for analyzing the stability of grasps. The characteristic points in this paper are to consider the curvature of both hand and object at contact points and the grasp with friction and frictionless contact. From this analysis, it is shown that the grasp using round fingers is more stable than using sharp fingers. Moreover, we establish the condition on the finger's stiffness to stabilize the grasp with friction. It is proved that the required stiffness of fingers are decreased by considering the curvature. The stability analysis is greatly simplified by using potential energy of the grasp system and is of practical use.