Performance Assessment of 3-Finger Adaptive Robotic Grippers in Handling Objects for Daily Living Assistance

Research Objectives: This study evaluates 3-finger adaptive robotic grippers for handling everyday objects. The experiments examine how object shape, size, weight, and texture affect gripper performance. The grippers' efficacy for people with different physical abilities and disabilities and their potential to improve the quality of life and independence of those who need help handling objects will also be examined. These goals aim to improve daily living robotics.

Design: Experimental study

Setting: In the Biorobotics Laboratory, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Participants: Six healthy participants with a mean (SD) age of 26.3 (2.6) years old. Participants operated an assistive robotic arm mounted on a wheelchair to grasp 81 objects that are commonly used in housekeeping. Finally, the participants provided their user experience in using the 3-finger gripper.

Interventions: Six participants picked and placed 81 essential daily objects using an assistive robotic gripper. The robotic hand was mounted on a six-degree-of-freedom robotic arm on a wheelchair. The gripper was controlled by a joystick. After the study, the participants were asked to fill out a user satisfaction survey.

Main Outcome Measures: The primary outcome measure for this study is how many objects have been successfully picked and placed out of 81 daily things by six participants.

Results: The 3-finger gripper grasped and placed 63 (78%) household items 98% of the time. Success rates of grasping, manipulating, and releasing objects of varying shapes, sizes, weights, and textures are compared. The gripper can hold 2000 grams and manipulate objects up to 80 mm in at least one dimension. Finally, subjects find it an easy user experience.

Conclusions: This study found that 3-finger adaptive robotic grippers can handle many objects for ADL assistance. High gripping and manipulation success rates demonstrate the grippers' user-friendliness and accessibility. These findings may improve everyday robotic technologies. This research can help people who need help manipulating objects and advance daily living robotics, though it needs further study for real-world usability.

Author(s) Disclosures: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.