Comparison of theoretical and experimental force/motion trajectories for dexterous manipulation with sliding

In this article we compare theoretical and experimental tra-jectories obtained for sliding an object with the fingers of a dextrous hand. The experiments were conducted using a two-fingered planar manipulator with soft fingers. Forceltorque sensors monitored the contact forces at the fingertips, and a vision system tracked the motion of the object. The predicted trajectories were obtained using a quasistatic sliding analysis and assuming Coulomb friction at the contacts. Close agree-ment between the predicted and experimental results indicates that quasistatic sliding analyses can be used for motion plan-ning with soft sliding fingertips, provided that the average values of the contact forces and coefficient of friction are accu-rately known. 1