Robot Real Time Hand Following
Problem:
The objective was to engineer a humanoid robotic hand capable of mirroring human finger movements in real time, requiring the development of both a custom sensor glove and a motorized mechanical hand.
Glove Design:
I fabricated custom flex sensors using Velostat, a piezoresistive material that alters electrical resistance when bent. I sandwiched Velostat strips between unraveled stranded wires for reliable contact and sealed them with electrical tape. To prevent the sensors from snapping under high tension during finger flexion, I integrated a mechanical strain relief system by attaching a small spring to the distal end of each strip before sewing the entire assembly onto a wearable glove.
Robotic Hand:
I 3D-printed and assembled a humanoid hand, housing individual servos within the base. To actuate the joints, I routed high-tensile string from each servo through the printed fingers, creating a tendon-driven mechanism where every servo independently controlled a single digit. To synchronize the mechanical hand with the custom sensor glove, I utilized an Arduino to read the raw analog resistance from the Velostat flex sensors. Because raw sensor data is prone to noise, I implemented digital filtering to smooth the incoming signals. Finally, I mathematically mapped these refined values to precise PWM servo angles. This translated the analog flex data into exact mechanical actuation, successfully achieving smooth, real-time replication of human hand movements.
