Social Interaction Robot Hand

Abstract

Hand gesture is an important part of human communications. It aids verbal communication and provides an alternative when verbal communication is disabled. Therefore humanoid robots, in order to achieve higher level of communication, should be able to understand human hand gesture input and give visual and gesture feedback. Some previously developed rigid robot hands are efficient in labour intensive tasks but are not touch friendly and are expensive because of their rigid structures. This project introduces a low-cost soft robotic hand with a interaction system that allows the user and humanoid to interact with only hand gestures. The robotic hand’s key physical components are soft fingers that are developed through experiments to investigate their properties. In the final prototype performance experiment, the soft hand was able to visually recognize and respond by imitating the user’s hand gesture.