Hand mechanism

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9833908-B2
Application number	US-201415102811-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 8, 2014
Priority date	Dec 9, 2013
Publication date	Dec 5, 2017
Grant date	Dec 5, 2017

Abstract

A hand mechanism including a first multi-joint finger, a second multi-joint finger, and a single-joint finger rotatable about a center of a predetermined connecting portion together with the first and second multi-joint fingers. The mechanism executes a first mode in which the respective entire fingers of the first and second multi-joint fingers are rotated in an identical direction using a connecting portion with respect to an attachment member when driven by a driving actuator, and a second mode in which a finger section other than a first predetermined finger section included in the first multi-joint finger is rotated with respect to the first predetermined finger section and a finger section other than a second predetermined finger section included in the second multi-joint finger is rotated with respect to the second predetermined finger section, when the rotation of the first and second predetermined finger sections are inhibited in the first mode.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A hand mechanism comprising:
an attachment member;
a first multi-joint finger and a second multi-joint finger each of which is a multi-joint finger including a plurality of finger sections connected so that the finger sections are mutually rotatable by the aid of connecting portions, one finger section of the plurality of finger sections being rotatably attached to the attachment member on a root side thereof;
a driving section which transmits a driving force from a single driving actuator to the first multi-joint finger and the second multi-joint finger; and
a single-joint finger formed by one finger section which is connected to the first multi-joint finger and the second multi-joint finger and which is connected to be rotatable about a center of a predetermined connecting portion with respect to the attachment member, the single-joint finger being rotatable about the center of the predetermined connecting portion together with the first multi-joint finger and the second multi-joint finger by the driving force transmitted from the single driving actuator; wherein the hand mechanism is capable of executing:
a first mode in which the respective entire fingers of the first multi-joint finger and the second multi-joint finger are rotated in an identical direction by the aid of the connecting portions for making connection with the attachment member when the driving force is applied via the driving section from the single driving actuator; and
a second mode in which the finger section other than a first predetermined finger section included in the first multi-joint finger is rotated with respect to the first predetermined finger section and the finger section other than a second predetermined finger section included in the second multi-joint finger is rotated with respect to the second predetermined finger section, when the first predetermined finger section included in the first multi-joint finger and the second predetermined finger section included in the second multi-joint finger are inhibited from being rotated in the first mode;
the single-joint finger is rotated in the first mode in a direction opposite to a rotation direction of the first multi-joint finger and the second multi-joint finger, both of a distance between a forward end portion of the first multi-joint finger and a forward end portion of the single-joint finger and a distance between a forward end portion of the second multi-joint finger and the forward end portion of the single-joint finger being narrowed in the direction; and
the rotation of the single-joint finger about the center of the predetermined connecting portion is stopped in the second mode simultaneously with stop of the rotation of the first predetermined finger section and the second predetermined finger section.

2. The hand mechanism according to claim 1 , wherein the respective fingers are attached to the attachment member so that respective rotation planes of the first multi-joint finger and the second multi-joint finger and a rotation plane of the single-joint finger do not intersect with each other, and the rotation plane of the single-joint finger is positioned between the rotation plane of the first multi-joint finger and the rotation plane of the second multi-joint finger in both of the first mode and the second mode.

3. The hand mechanism according to claim 2 , wherein:
the rotation plane of the first multi-joint finger, the rotation plane of the second multi-joint finger, and the rotation plane of the single-joint finger are parallel to one another; and
the forward end portions of the first multi-joint finger and the second multi-joint finger and the forward end portion of the single-joint finger are positioned so that the forward end portions are opposed to one another while interposing a gripping object therebetween in a predetermined attitude of the hand mechanism in which the gripping object is gripped by respective fingertips of the first multi-joint finger and the second multi-joint finger and a fingertip of the single-joint finger when the first mode is executed.

4. The hand mechanism according to claim 3 , wherein the forward end portions of the first multi-joint finger and the second multi-joint finger and the forward end portion of the single-joint finger are positioned between attachment positions of the first multi-joint finger and the second multi-joint finger attached to the attachment member and an attachment position of the single-joint finger attached to the attachment member in a gripping direction with respect to the gripping object when the hand mechanism takes the predetermined attitude.

5. The hand mechanism according to claim 1 , wherein:
the first multi-joint finger and the second multi-joint finger perform an identical rotation action with respect to the single-joint finger in the first mode; and
the rotation of the finger section other than the first predetermined finger section included in the first multi-joint finger with respect to the first predetermined finger section and the rotation of the finger section other than the second predetermined finger section included in the second multi-joint finger with respect to the second predetermined finger section are performed mutually independently in the second mode.

6. The hand mechanism according to claim 1 , wherein:
the first predetermined finger section is the finger section which is attached to the attachment member in relation to the first multi-joint finger;
the second predetermined finger section is the finger section which is attached to the attachment member in relation to the second multi-joint finger; and
the first predetermined finger section and the second predetermined finger section are in link connection with the single-joint finger by the aid of a joining member.

7. The hand mechanism according to claim 6 , wherein the first predetermined finger section and the second predetermined finger section are joined to the single-joint finger, while at least a part of the joining member does not pass through a gripping space in which a gripping object is positioned between the first multi-joint finger and the second multi-joint finger and the single-joint finger.

8. The hand mechanism according to claim 1 , wherein each of the first multi-joint finger and the second multi-joint finger has, as the plurality of finger sections:
a first finger section which is rotatably connected to the attachment member at a first connecting portion disposed on the root side;
a second finger section having a portion disposed on the root side which is rotatably connected at a second connecting portion disposed on a forward end side of the first finger section; and
a third finger section having a portion disposed on the root side which is rotatably connected at a fifth connecting portion disposed on the forward end side of the second finger section; the driving section has, corresponding to each of the first multi-joint finger and the second multi-joint finger:
a first driving section having a portion disposed on the forward end side which is rotatably connected at a fourth connecting portion disposed on the root side of the second finger section and a portion disposed on the root side which is connected to a third connecting portion for applying a driving motive power; and
a second driving section having a portion disposed on the forward end side which is rotatably connected to a seventh connecting portion disposed on the root side of the third finger section and a portion disposed on the root side which is rotatably connected to a sixth connecting portion disposed on the forward end side of the first finger section;
the first mode, in which the first finger section and the second finger section are simultaneously d

Assignees

• Thk Co Ltd

Inventors

• Nagatsuka Masaki

Classifications

• B25J15/0009 Primary

  comprising multi-articulated fingers, e.g. resembling a human hand · CPC title

• Y10S901/40

  Vacuum or mangetic · CPC title

• B25J15/0616

  with vacuum · CPC title

• B25J15/10

  with three or more finger members {(B25J15/0009 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• B25J15/022

  actuated by articulated links · CPC title