A Force-and-slippage control strategy for a poliarticulated prosthetic hand

One of the main problems in the prosthetic hand design is to provide the hand with a reliable system for force and slippage control. The real-time detection of an object slippage during grasping plays a fundamental role in performing a stable grasp. Aim of this paper is to propose and test (i) a system for object slippage detection during grasping, (ii) a control strategy for grasping force regulation and slippage prevention and (iii) a finger coordination method for replicating on the prosthesis system a human-like behaviour. The approach has been validated on a real prosthetic hand, i.e. the IH2 Azzurra (developed by Prensilia), on which tips force sensing resistors have been placed. The preliminary experimental results have demonstrated the feasibility of the methods for slipping detection and for force/slippage control and have shown that the prosthetic hand is able to perform a stable pinch grasp of different objects guaranteeing finger coordination.