MILITARY TECHNICAL ACADEMY

Vol. XXIII, No. 1

© Military Technical Academy Publishing House

Bucharest, Romania, March 2013
 Editorial Board:

Col. Prof. Eng. CRISTIAN BARBU, Ph.D.

The Military Technical Academy of Bucharest, Romania
Col. Prof. Eng. IOAN NICOLAESCU, Ph.D.
The Military Technical Academy of Bucharest, Romania
Col. Prof. Eng. IOAN VEDINAŞ, Ph.D.
The Military Technical Academy of Bucharest, Romania
Prof. Eng. VICTOR-VALERIU PATRICIU, Ph.D.
The Military Technical Academy of Bucharest, Romania
Brigadier General (retd) Prof. Eng. MIHAI RADU, Ph.D.
The Military Technical Academy of Bucharest, Romania
Brigadier General (retd) Prof. Eng. GHEORGHE IUBU, Ph.D.
The Military Technical Academy of Bucharest, Romania
Prof. Eng. JÉRÔME MARS, Ph.D.
Grenoble Institute of Technology, France
Prof. Eng. SRDJAN STANKOVIĆ, Ph.D.
The University of Montenegro, Podgorica, Montenegro
Prof. Eng. VLADIMÍR HORÁK, Ph.D.
The University of Defence in Brno, the Czech Republic
Prof. Eng. EMANUEL RĂDOI, Ph.D.
The University of Western Brittany, Brest, France
Assoc. Prof. Eng. CORNEL IOANA, Ph.D.
Grenoble Institute of Technology, France
Col. Prof. Eng. LUCIAN ANTON, Ph.D.
The Military Technical Academy of Bucharest, Romania
Col. Prof. Eng. CONSTANTIN ROTARU, Ph.D.
The Military Technical Academy of Bucharest, Romania
Prof. Eng. ALEXANDRU ŞERBĂNESCU, Ph.D.
The Military Technical Academy of Bucharest, Romania
Lt. Col. Assoc. Prof. AMELIA MOLEA, Ph.D.
The Military Technical Academy of Bucharest, Romania
Lt. Col. Eng. STELIAN SPÎNU
The Military Technical Academy of Bucharest, Romania
 CONTENTS

¾ A Movement Geometry Study for Two-Wheeled Mobiles on a

Specified Surface – VASILE NUŢU ....................................................... 5

¾ Influence of Constructive Characteristics on Motion Stability of an

Underwater Towed Vehicle – BOGDAN VLĂDESCU, IORDAN
MATULEA, CRISTIAN BARBU .............................................................. 23

¾ Shock Fitting and Shock Capturing for an Overexpanded

Supersonic Nozzle – MARIUS-IONUŢ MĂRMUREANU ......................... 35

¾ The Geometrical Simplified Model for Study of the

Electromagnetic Field Absorption in a Human Head when Using a
Cell Phone – EDUARD-GRIGORE JELER ............................................. 47

¾ Automatic Remote Controlled Hand for Object Manipulation –

NARCIS COSTIUC, CRISTIAN MOLDER ................................................ 61

3
MTA REVIEW • Vol. XXIII, No. 1, Mar. 2013

AUTOMATIC REMOTE CONTROLLED HAND

FOR OBJECT MANIPULATION

NARCIS COSTIUC1
CRISTIAN MOLDER1

Abstract: The use of remote controlled devices for object manipulation

has various applications in hazardous or dangerous environments,
where human cannot directly operate. The article presents an
anthropomorphic articulated hand designed at the same dimension as
the average human hand, which can exactly reproduce the gesture of a
human operator. A glove equipped with flex resistors perceives the finger
motions, and then encodes and sends the corresponding signals to the
robotic hand via Bluetooth to be decoded and converted to commands
for the corresponding finger motors.

Keywords: robotics, manipulator, embedded, automation.

1. Introduction
Robotic hands are electromechanical devices that can be programmed to
operate in a similar manner as a human hand. It can either operate as a distinct
device (end effector) or as a part of a more complex system. Because its
resemblance in shape and functionality to a human hand, they are also called
anthropomorphic robotic hands.
The applications of such robotic hands are various, such as remote
manipulation of weapons or hazardous materials, fragile objects, or even in
medicine, as prosthetic hands that replace lost limbs such as the Bebionic3 [1, 2]
and iLimb ultra [1] myoelectric robotic hands (see Figure 1). The later devices
were successfully fitted on humans to replace their lost parts of their body. They
provide the user almost human-like capabilities such as typing or cracking raw
eggs [3, 4]. For aesthetic reasons, the devices can be covered with synthetic skin
that matches the user skin tone. The robotic hands are usually made of carbon
fiber, aluminium and alloy small mechanical parts [5, 6].

1
Faculty of Military Electronic and Information Systems, Military Technical Academy,
39-49 George Cosbuc Ave., Sector 5, 050141, Bucharest, Romania,
e-mails: narciscostiuc@yahoo.com, mcc@mta.ro
61
62 NARCIS COSTIUC, CRISTIAN MOLDER

DARPAs’ four-year Autonomous Robotic Manipulator (ARM) program

is a proof of the military interest in robotic hands that can be used to
autonomously perform complex tasks with high-level supervision [5].

Figure 1. The i-Limb Ultra (left) and Bebionic 3 (right) myoelectric robotic hands

One such example is the ARM-H (or Autonomous Robotic Manipulation-

Hand) project. It is designed as a low-cost dexterous robotic manipulator that is
mounted on the torso of an anthropomorphic robot (see Figure 2). The robot
will be able to manipulate, grasp, and perform complicated tasks with high-level
human supervision. It will also be able to adapt to unstructured, dynamic
environments, being capable of serving various military tasks across a wide
variety of applications domains.

Figure 2. The DARPA ARM (Autonomous Robotic Manipulation) robot

 Automatic Remote Controlled Hand for Object Manipulation 63

This article presents a robotic hand designed to be identical in shape and

functionality to the designer’s own hand. For ease of construction and testing,
the hand was made of lime wood, consisting of four independent fingers and a
thumb, each controlled by an RC servo and strength threads. A sixth RC servo is
used for the wrist. All motors can operate simultaneously. On the opposite side
of the hand, springs are mounted to lower the required torques and to revert all
fingers to an initial state. The operator hand motions are captured using a glove
equipped with five flex resistors, packed and sent to the hand receiver via a
Bluetooth communication. Figure 3 shows the block diagram of the entire
system.

Figure 3. Block diagram of the robotic hand system

2. System Description
The robotic hand system consists of two distinctive parts: the robotic hand
itself and the operator’s glove. The two parts continuously communicate with
each other via a 2.4 GHz Bluetooth wireless link at a baud rate of 115.2 kbps.
The serial communications is achieved using two Roving Networks RN-42
transceivers. The glove sends data consisting of six values representing the
bending value of each flex resistor. Once data is received by the robotic hand,
the information is interpreted and converted to PWM signals to control the
corresponding RC servo shaft positions. To reduce the power consumption, each
finger is moved only when the corresponding finger of the operator is bended.
Otherwise, the RC servo is operating freely and the mechanical finger is
retracted by springs mounted on the opposite side.
64 NARCIS COSTIUC, CRISTIAN MOLDER

The glove (see Figure 4) consists of six FLX-01-L bidirectional flexible

bend sensors mounted on a textile glove. The sensors are variable resistors with
values between 1 K and 10 K (nominal resistance of 10 K at 0°). Each finger
and thumb has its corresponding flexible sensors that will perceive the operator
fingers movements. By using the flexible resistors in a voltage divider
configuration, an output voltage proportional to the finger bending can be
obtained (see Figure 5).

Figure 4. Glove with flexible sensors

Figure 5. Operating mode of the FLX-01-L bidirectional flexible sensor

The flexible sensor output voltages are acquired with the help of a 10-bit
analog to digital converter module from a PIC18F4520 Microchip high-range
8-bit microcontroller. By time multiplexing six ADC channels, all the six output
voltages can be continuously measured. The converted values are sent via
Bluetooth to the robotic hand receiver (see Figure 6).
 Automatic Remote Controlled Hand for Object Manipulation 65

Figure 6. Electronic diagram of the glove

The glove electronic circuitry is powered from lithium secondary batteries

using a Texas Instruments TL750M05 low dropout linear voltage regulator
capable of delivering up to 750 mA.
The robotic hand consists of six RC servos that independently control
each finger, thumb and wrist. The fingers and thumb are designed as articulated
parts similar to the human hand that can be controlled with the help of a thread.
Using horns, the radial motion of the RC servo shaft is converted to a linear
motion required to pull the corresponding thread (see Figure 7). If no action is
required from the RC servo, the thread is released and the finger or thumb will
return to its initial position due to the springs mounted on the opposite side.

Figure 7. Finger motion control using an RC servo

The RN-42 Bluetooth transceiver receives the signals transmitted by the

glove and decodes the position of the fingers, thumb, and wrist. In order to
reproduce the motion, each corresponding RC servo must be controlled with a
PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) signal that will have the effect of rotating the
motor shaft at a fixed position (see Figure 8).
66 NARCIS COSTIUC, CRISTIAN MOLDER

Figure 8. Distribution of RC servos for finger/thumb/wrist control

The 6 PWM signals are generated by two PIC16F1937 microcontrollers

using their internal CCP/ECCP hardware modules. To control the RC servos
individually, a 50 Hz PWM signal with pulses between 1 and 2 ms must be
generated. The pulse width corresponds to the angle of the motor shaft. As long
as the pulses are generated, the shaft will maintain its position and torque.
Because each microcontroller has a maximum of five independent CCP
modules, two MCUs were required.
The first of the two PIC16F1937 microcontrollers (master MCU) receives
data from the Bluetooth RN-42 modules and decodes the six corresponding RC
servo shaft angles (see Figure 9). Five of them will be directly driven from the
MCU itself, while a sixth motor will be driven from a second MCU (slave
MCU).

Figure 9. Electronic diagram of the robotic hand

 Automatic Remote Controlled Hand for Object Manipulation 67

The robotic hand is powered from lithium cells and further regulated by
three TL750M05 low dropout (LDO) linear voltage regulator for increase output
current required by motors. All RC servos must be powered from a regulated
5 V power supply. Because most Bluetooth devices operate from 3.3V, which is
also the case for the Roving Networks RN-42 device, voltage shifting circuits
must be used. When transmitting data from the glove, the TX channel drives to
the base of NPN transistor whose collector is connected to a 3.3V regulated by a
Texas Instruments UA78M33C LDO regulator. The same rule applies for
converting 3.3 V to 5 V (see Figure 10).

Figure 10. Voltage shifting circuits

The robotic hand chassis is made of lime wood. Each mechanical part
was designed and handcrafted for maximum resemblance to its human
counterpart. The inner part of the arm provides sockets for each RC servo motor.
The outer part of the arm is designed to integrate springs for retracting each
finger or thumb. Two similar springs are also mounted on the outer part of the
arm to help retracting the wrist. This way, with the help of the springs, the
reverse motion of the mobile elements will not require any power consumption,
while the power source autonomy will be greatly increased.

Figure 11. Robotic inner arm (full view)

The BOM for the electronic components is shown in Table 1. Most

devices are common parts that can be found in local stores or via Internet at an
68 NARCIS COSTIUC, CRISTIAN MOLDER

affordable price. For increase reliability and operating precision, high-end

equivalent devices must be used instead.

Table 1.
Bill of Materials
Nr. Part Price
Qty
crt. Code Description Unit Total
1 HS-422 Standard RC Servo 5 $9.99 $49.95
2 HS-322HD Heavy Duty RC Servo 1 $9.99 $9.99
3 FLX-01-M Flexible Bend Sensor 5 $9.95 $49.75
4 PIC16F1937-I/P 8-bit CMOS MCU 2 $2.31 $4.62
5 PIC18F4520-I/P 8-bit CMOS MCU 1 $4.90 $4.90
6 TL750M05 LDO Voltage Regulator 5 $0.78 $3.90
7 UA78M33C LDO Voltage Regulator 1 $0.27 $0.27
8 RN-42 (PmodBT2) Bluetooth Transceiver 2 $49.99 $99.98
9 BC-337 NPN Transistor 2 $0.10 $0.20
TOTAL $223.56

Figure 12. Robotic inner arm with RC servos

Figure 13. Robotic outer hand with finger springs

 Automatic Remote Controlled Hand for Object Manipulation 69

Figure 14. Robotic outer arm with wrist springs

3. Experimental Results and Conclusion

The first step to start operating the robotic arm is to establish the wireless
connection between the two Bluetooth devices, once both the glove and the
robotic hand have been powered on. Once the connectivity is available, the
glove MCU will send data packages to the MCU on the robotic arm. During all
tests, the hand respond to the operator actions were fast enough, below 300 ms,
which is acceptable for this type of design.
The results are encouraging towards a further development of the design,
considering the use of more durable materials for the chassis, such as silicon and
fiber glass, and miniaturizing the electronic circuitry. Moreover, integration with
a facial robotic platform will help modeling the human behavior.
Further applications will include the design of a robotic human head
which will mimic human facial expressions and will also incorporate the hand
for various gestures and object manipulation.
The current version of the project was awarded with the 4th place at
Digilent Design Contest 2012, European Edition, Cluj-Napoca, Romania and
with the Microchip 3rd Prize Award at the same contest.

References
[1] Touch Bionics i-limb ultra, http://www.touchbionics.com/products/active-
prostheses/i-limb-ultra
[2] P. VENTIMIGLIA – Design of a Human Hand Prosthesis, Major
Qualifying Project Report, Worcester Polytechnic Institute,
Worcester, MA, Apr. 26, 2012
[3] N. COSTIUC, C. MOLDER – Automatic Remote Controlled Hand,
Microchip Academic Newsletter, pp. 7-8, Fall 2012
70 NARCIS COSTIUC, CRISTIAN MOLDER

[4] E. ACKERMAN – Bebionic3 Cyborg Hand is Perfect for Pouring a Beer,

Doing Almost Anything Else, IEEE Spectrum, Nov. 7, 2012,
http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/medical-robots/bebionic3-
cyborg-hand-is-perfect-for-pouring-a-beer-doing-almost-anything-else
[5] DARPA ARM Program, http://thearmrobot.com
[6] RSL Steeper Bebionic3, http://bebionic.com
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ISSN 1843-3391

Published: The Military Technical Academy

Editor in Chief: Lt. Col. Eng. Stelian SPÎNU
Text Editing: Eng. Magdalena MAZILU, Camelia COMAN
Printing: Viorica TOMA, Adrian STĂNICĂ

Printed in The Military Technical Academy

72 pages
0208 C-1 / 25.03.2013