High Power Hand with Retention Mechanism

When a disaster occurs, high output power should be available for rescue operation even if the electric supply is insufficient at site. This video presents a novel multi-fingered robot hand for extreme environments without a sufficient electric supply. The robot hand has four fingers with 16 joints and 12 degrees of freedom. The finger has a retention mechanism using no electrical power supply and a fingertip force of 150 [N]. Holding without power supply shows that our robot hand can lift a heavy barbell and keep its posture without using electrical power. The high fingertip force shows that steel cans can be crushed by the robot hand. In addition, dexterous motion of our robot hand shows that each finger allows flexion/extension and adduction/abduction. High-power manipulation shows that the robot hand can grasp and manipulate a hammer drill for making a hole in a concrete plate. The robot hand has a high potential for performing various tasks by obtaining high power output and electrical power saving.