Ferdinando Cannella | Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia / Italian Institute of Technology (original) (raw)

Papers by Ferdinando Cannella

Assembly Automation, Aug 3, 2015

Purpose – This paper aims to design a novel jaw gripper with human-sized anthropomorphic features... more Purpose – This paper aims to design a novel jaw gripper with human-sized anthropomorphic features to be suitable for precise in-hand posture transitions, such as twisting and re-positioning. The growing demand from traditional high-mix low-volume and new massive customized manufacturing industry requires the robot with configurability and flexibility. In the electronic manufacturing industry particularly, the design of the robotic hand with sufficient dexterity and configuration is important for the robot to accomplish the assembly task reliably and robustly. It is important for the robot to be able to grasp and manipulate a large number of assembly parts or tools. Design/methodology/approach – In this research, a novel jaw-like gripper with human-sized anthropomorphic features is designed for online in-hand precise positioning and twisting. It retains the simplicity feature of traditional industrial grippers and dexterity features of dexterous robotic hands. Findings – The gripper is able to apply suitable gripping force on assembly parts and performs reliable twisting movement within limited time to meet the industrial requirements. Manipulating several cylindrical assembly parts by robot, as an experimental case in this paper, is studied to evaluate its performance. The effectiveness of proposed gripper design and mechanical analysis is proved by the simulation and experimental results. Originality/value – The main originality of this research is that a novel jaw gripper with human-sized anthropomorphic features is designed to be suitable for precise in-hand posture transitions, such as twisting and re-positioning. With this gripper, the robotic system will be sufficiently flexible to deal with various assembly tasks.

Procedia Manufacturing, 2019

Since the last decade, thanks to the spreading of the concept of Industry 4.0 and Smart Factory, ... more Since the last decade, thanks to the spreading of the concept of Industry 4.0 and Smart Factory, more and more companies have started to investigate the robotic field looking for reliable solutions aiming at improving the efficiency of assembly lines. Promising technologies are connected to the speeding up of production stages like fast algorithms for object localization, as well as dexterous grippers for manipulation and assembly. Nowadays, most of the solutions for pick and place tasks involve the use of robotic grippers for grasping objects, while robotic manipulators are responsible for their accurate placements. Focusing on the grippers, although their simple structure can be appreciated, it greatly reduces their in-hand manipulation abilities, making unfeasible the twists of grasped objects and their release in a desired pose. As consequence, the efficiency of the pick and place operation is reduced since several adjustments of the robotic arm are required to accomplish the task. In this paper, a novel dexterous gripper coupled with a vision system algorithm for object localization and pose estimation are presented, and their performances in manipulating different objects are discussed. The designed gripper has a symmetrical structure with two finger modules, each one consisting in a couple of linear actuators arranged mutually orthogonal, so the translations in two axis, namely y and z directions, are allowed. As terminal part of each finger there is a revolute joint to whom is attached a fingertip modelled according to the shape of the target objects and easily replaceable. The embedded vision system algorithm adopted estimates position and orientation of the objects on a flat surface, and it coordinates the gripper placement to grasp them. The case study of the handling of a Spanish fan is presented and discussed in details.

Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2018

Autonomous Reconfigurable Dynamic Investigation Test-rig on hAptics (ARDITA). It is detailed in i... more Autonomous Reconfigurable Dynamic Investigation Test-rig on hAptics (ARDITA). It is detailed in its kinematics and methodology. We tested 40 people in order to demonstrate the accuracy of this new device. The ARDITA measurement system was tested on the index fingertip. The results were analyzed from several points of view: fingertip size, area, age of the subjects, and sex. Age (20–40 years old) did not affect the performances, while the length and the sex shown some difference. It was possible to determine the threshold of the tactile sensitivity of subject in healthy: 27 correct answers out 40. The accuracy was better than current screening methods used during the physical inspection for peripheral neuropathy.

Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2016

The aim of this paper is to investigate the recovery time of human-fingertip's mechanical pro... more The aim of this paper is to investigate the recovery time of human-fingertip's mechanical properties after indentations cycles. To determine the influencing parameters, three indentation velocities, five recovery times and three subjects were tested. During each experiment, the fingertip of participant was driven against a flat surface, while indentation displacement and velocity were controlled. The results show not only the indentation forces values increase depending on the indentation velocity increment, but also they decrease depending on the number of cycles. While the fingertip recovery depends on the time, but not on the indentation velocity. Finally the recovery time was determined: in 5i¾źmin the fingertip restored 99.6i¾ź% of the initial mechanical properties.

Developing grasping devices with the capabilities to carry out dexterous tasks similar to human h... more Developing grasping devices with the capabilities to carry out dexterous tasks similar to human hand are being studied for many decades. To this aim, mathematical analysis such as control of multi-fingered gripper, grasp synthesis algorithms, contact types and their interactions have been explicitly addressed by many researchers. Since human hands are dexterous due to the complex integration of control and numerous sensors, hence they are naturally adaptable to grasp, in-hand manipulation of plurality of object by their construction. On the other hand, artificial grippers require priori knowledge of the payload geometry and configuration to maneuver grasping and manipulation tasks at the very first place. Moreover, theoretical analysis, such as contact kinematics, grasp stability cannot predict the nonholonomic behaviors, and therefore, uncertainties are always present to restrict a maneuver, even though the gripper is kinematically feasible of doing the task. Hence, in general, industrial grippers do exploit simpler mechanisms with least number of fingers and tend to avoid soft materials in the construction primarily to achieve dexterity, reliability, repeatability and speed in the process. However, in-hand manipulation of objects urges certain degrees of flexibility in the gripper design; which is difficult to obtain from a rigid structure and also the use of non-rigid materials reduce speed, accuracy and performance. In this research, a gripper platform named Dexclar (DEXterous reConfigurable moduLAR) is proposed, which addresses the dilemma by combining mechanism and modularity, evaluating payload centric requirements.

ABSTRACT In electronic manufacturing system, the design of the robotic hand with sufficient dexte... more ABSTRACT In electronic manufacturing system, the design of the robotic hand with sufficient dexterity and configuration is important for the successful accomplishment of the assembly task. Due to the growing demand from high-mix manufacturing industry, it is difficult for the traditional robot to grasp a large number of assembly parts or tools having cylinder shapes with correct postures. In this research, a novel jaw like gripper with human-sized anthropomorphic features is designed for in-hand precise positioning and twisting online. It retains the simplicity feature of traditional industrial grippers and dexterity features of dexterous grippers. It can apply a constant gripping force on assembly parts and performs reliable twisting movement within limited time to meet the industrial requirements. Manipulating several cylindrical assembly parts by robot, as an experimental case in this paper, is studied to evaluate its performance. The effectiveness of proposed gripper design and mechanical analysis is proved by the simulation and experimental results.

Intelligent Robots and Systems, 2017

we presented Flexible Links for Flexible Interactio

Springer eBooks, 2012

ABSTRACT This paper presents an application of the virtual prototyping on the reconfigurable mech... more ABSTRACT This paper presents an application of the virtual prototyping on the reconfigurable mechanisms and in particular, in this study, is shown a multibody origami carton folding model. The aim of this work is to reproduce via numerical model the D-RAPS reconfigurable multifinger robot that is in use for this kind of application. Thanks to the trajectory matching, the authors reach model validation only by comparing analytical and numerical results. In addition, this model permits to investigate the carton folding deeper than via experimental tests. In fact, as example, the contact forces between the mechanism finger and carton panel are computed. © Springer-Verlag 2012.

Robotics and Computer-integrated Manufacturing, Jun 1, 2011

An increasing interest towards functionally independent and self-reconfigurable robots featured t... more An increasing interest towards functionally independent and self-reconfigurable robots featured the research direction in the recent past. Such attention is well explained by the characteristics of flexibility and cost-effectiveness which distinguish these modular machines. This scenario framed the birth of many different devices characterized by simplicity of use and versatility. The present manuscript follows these trends by presenting a newly conceived device suitable for being used as a limb, as well as a planar two degrees of freedom manipulator. The features of both parallel and serial kinematic mechanisms have been exploited to the aim of obtaining a device as much as possible independent from the frame to whom it is connected. Formal aspects about position and velocity kinematics are addressed and a specifically built prototype is then used for experimental tests on the new limb.

IEEE Transactions on Haptics, 2017

Understanding the mechanisms of human tactual perception represents a challenging task in haptics... more Understanding the mechanisms of human tactual perception represents a challenging task in haptics and humanoid robotics. A classic approach to tackle this issue is to accurately and exhaustively characterize the mechanical behaviour of human fingertip. The output of this characterization can then be exploited to drive the design of numerical models, which can be used to investigate in depth the mechanisms of human sensing. In this work, we present a novel integrated measurement technique and experimental set up for in vivo characterization of the deformation of the human fingertip at contact, in terms of contact area, force, deformation and pressure distribution. The device presented here compresses the participant's fingertip against a flat surface, while the aforementioned measurements are acquired and experimental parameters such as velocity, finger orientation and displacement (indentation) controlled. Experimental outcomes are then compared and integrated with the output of a 3D finite element (FE) model of the human fingertip, built upon existing validated models. The agreement between numerical and experimental data represents a validation for our approach.

Nowadays the industries have to be reactive in order to satisfy the rapid changing market require... more Nowadays the industries have to be reactive in order to satisfy the rapid changing market requirements. From a traditional process with dedicated production lines, the industrial world is moving toward to a self-controlled production process and to the auto-managed factory systems named Industry 4.0. This is a very challenging step forward and it requires the knowledge of several parameters many of which cannot be measured on-line. So that, the authors have developed a multi-body model of a folding machines with the aim of estimating parameters such as contact forces and panel trajectory useful for the control algorithm. The model is based on an extended campaign of experimental tests and on solid mathematical formulation that leads to determine an accurate crease non-linear stiffness behaviour.

Procedia Manufacturing, 2017

High flexibility and high speed is the goal for industrial manufacturing. However, it is difficul... more High flexibility and high speed is the goal for industrial manufacturing. However, it is difficult to put them together due to the reason that they are contradicting with each other. The authors face this production process problem and presented a new high reconfigurable gripper. It has two degrees of freedom per finger and can support enough payload for manufacturing applications. At same time the simple kinematics permits to be fast. Moreover, not only it is able to handle different workpiece, but the same design concept, can be applied to different scenarios. In this paper the authors motivate and detail all the principals and the concepts used for define and design this gripper. The physical models are shown as proof of this successful project.

This paper describes a general purpose gripper to be used into industrial manufacturing applicati... more This paper describes a general purpose gripper to be used into industrial manufacturing application. The gripper has been developed in the context of the AUTORECON project. It is based on a 2 degrees of freedom finger that is able to adapt itself to objects of various shape, size, material and weight. Thanks to its highly reconfigurable and adaptive capabilities, the gripper described here is an attempt to create a gripper suitable in industrial application to assemble compounds of several different workpieces using only one robot. The high dexterity and the wide range of possible uses of the gripper described here intends to explore a new approach to the design of industrial grippers to be used in factory automation. Moreover, the adaptive capabilities of this gripper make it suitable to grasp workpieces with complicated geometry or highly irregular shape, as it has been proved in performed automotive test rig described here.

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), Jul 10, 2022

High precision industrial applications call for equally precise functioning of industrial manipul... more High precision industrial applications call for equally precise functioning of industrial manipulators, which in turn requires accurate modeling of the manipulators. This paper carries out a detailed study on the modeling of industrial manipulators with elastic joints to improve their accuracy. In particular, the effect of adopting a simple harmonic drive (HD) model and ignoring a dynamic effect called low inertia coupling between the actuators and links on the model accuracy has been analyzed from a parameter estimation perspective. Since the aforementioned model characteristics have been generally ignored for high gear reduction ratios, this study is carried out with five different reduction ratios ranging from low to high, where three different models of a three-joints elastic manipulator are considered. The accuracy of the models is compared using the torque performance metrics of a predefined joint motion of the robot. Furthermore, the impact of the models with different accuracy is assessed by carrying out a state-of-the-art dynamic parameter estimation, and the resulting errors are compared to ascertain the merits of adopting a detailed elastic dynamic model of a manipulator.

The paper presents the conceptual and functional design of a novel machine used to create chamfer... more The paper presents the conceptual and functional design of a novel machine used to create chamfers on wooden beams and called RCT. The authors show, in this paper, the technical problem and the technical specifications used to design a machine to solve the problem. The novelty of the patented invention is based on its originality and usefulness. All claims of the invention are underlined by the novelty and innovation. In this paper, the steps performed to design the proposed machine are discussed in details. The chamfering process is performed using disc saws and the machine is moved on the wooden beam using rubber wheels. This machine uses four disk saws to create chamfers on wooden beams. The particularity of this machine is the possibility to use two or four disk saws for chamfering two or four edges. The market's needs allow us to design a novel machine with original motion and manufacturing process giving a big impact to creativity and innovation in design for manufacturing

International Journal of Advanced Robotic Systems, 2015

ABSTRACT Gesture recognition is essential for human and robot collaboration. Within an industrial... more ABSTRACT Gesture recognition is essential for human and robot collaboration. Within an industrial hybrid assembly cell, the performance of such a system significantly affects the safety of human workers. This work presents an approach to recognizing hand gestures accurately during an assembly task while in collaboration with a robot co-worker. We have designed and developed a sensor system for measuring natural human-robot interactions. The position and rotation information of a human worker's hands and fingertips are tracked in 3D space while completing a task. A modified chain-code method is proposed to describe the motion trajectory of the measured hands and fingertips. The Hidden Markov Model (HMM) method is adopted to recognize patterns via data streams and identify workers' gesture patterns and assembly intentions. The effectiveness of the proposed system is verified by experimental results. The outcome demonstrates that the proposed system is able to automatically segment the data streams and recognize the gesture patterns thus represented with a reasonable accuracy ratio.

Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems, Jun 27, 2015

Automatic mating of electronic connectors is an indispensable process for a wiring harness assemb... more Automatic mating of electronic connectors is an indispensable process for a wiring harness assembly system on assembly line of electrical elements. It is therefore key technology to develop error recovery method when the connector mating process is jammed. This paper presents four search strategies for electronic connectors mating with initial uncertain position error. For each method, we study the relationship between the force sensor signal and relative position within connector pair. We also study the search space requirements for each method since there is not always enough room existed for connector searching. Performance of each method is finally studied by both theoretical and experimental analysis. The experiment results show that the proposed strategies can diagnose the position errors occurring in the F. Chen ( ) • F. Cannella

Assembly Automation, Aug 3, 2015

Purpose – This paper aims to design a novel jaw gripper with human-sized anthropomorphic features... more Purpose – This paper aims to design a novel jaw gripper with human-sized anthropomorphic features to be suitable for precise in-hand posture transitions, such as twisting and re-positioning. The growing demand from traditional high-mix low-volume and new massive customized manufacturing industry requires the robot with configurability and flexibility. In the electronic manufacturing industry particularly, the design of the robotic hand with sufficient dexterity and configuration is important for the robot to accomplish the assembly task reliably and robustly. It is important for the robot to be able to grasp and manipulate a large number of assembly parts or tools. Design/methodology/approach – In this research, a novel jaw-like gripper with human-sized anthropomorphic features is designed for online in-hand precise positioning and twisting. It retains the simplicity feature of traditional industrial grippers and dexterity features of dexterous robotic hands. Findings – The gripper is able to apply suitable gripping force on assembly parts and performs reliable twisting movement within limited time to meet the industrial requirements. Manipulating several cylindrical assembly parts by robot, as an experimental case in this paper, is studied to evaluate its performance. The effectiveness of proposed gripper design and mechanical analysis is proved by the simulation and experimental results. Originality/value – The main originality of this research is that a novel jaw gripper with human-sized anthropomorphic features is designed to be suitable for precise in-hand posture transitions, such as twisting and re-positioning. With this gripper, the robotic system will be sufficiently flexible to deal with various assembly tasks.

Procedia Manufacturing, 2019

Since the last decade, thanks to the spreading of the concept of Industry 4.0 and Smart Factory, ... more Since the last decade, thanks to the spreading of the concept of Industry 4.0 and Smart Factory, more and more companies have started to investigate the robotic field looking for reliable solutions aiming at improving the efficiency of assembly lines. Promising technologies are connected to the speeding up of production stages like fast algorithms for object localization, as well as dexterous grippers for manipulation and assembly. Nowadays, most of the solutions for pick and place tasks involve the use of robotic grippers for grasping objects, while robotic manipulators are responsible for their accurate placements. Focusing on the grippers, although their simple structure can be appreciated, it greatly reduces their in-hand manipulation abilities, making unfeasible the twists of grasped objects and their release in a desired pose. As consequence, the efficiency of the pick and place operation is reduced since several adjustments of the robotic arm are required to accomplish the task. In this paper, a novel dexterous gripper coupled with a vision system algorithm for object localization and pose estimation are presented, and their performances in manipulating different objects are discussed. The designed gripper has a symmetrical structure with two finger modules, each one consisting in a couple of linear actuators arranged mutually orthogonal, so the translations in two axis, namely y and z directions, are allowed. As terminal part of each finger there is a revolute joint to whom is attached a fingertip modelled according to the shape of the target objects and easily replaceable. The embedded vision system algorithm adopted estimates position and orientation of the objects on a flat surface, and it coordinates the gripper placement to grasp them. The case study of the handling of a Spanish fan is presented and discussed in details.

Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2018

Autonomous Reconfigurable Dynamic Investigation Test-rig on hAptics (ARDITA). It is detailed in i... more Autonomous Reconfigurable Dynamic Investigation Test-rig on hAptics (ARDITA). It is detailed in its kinematics and methodology. We tested 40 people in order to demonstrate the accuracy of this new device. The ARDITA measurement system was tested on the index fingertip. The results were analyzed from several points of view: fingertip size, area, age of the subjects, and sex. Age (20–40 years old) did not affect the performances, while the length and the sex shown some difference. It was possible to determine the threshold of the tactile sensitivity of subject in healthy: 27 correct answers out 40. The accuracy was better than current screening methods used during the physical inspection for peripheral neuropathy.

Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2016

The aim of this paper is to investigate the recovery time of human-fingertip's mechanical pro... more The aim of this paper is to investigate the recovery time of human-fingertip's mechanical properties after indentations cycles. To determine the influencing parameters, three indentation velocities, five recovery times and three subjects were tested. During each experiment, the fingertip of participant was driven against a flat surface, while indentation displacement and velocity were controlled. The results show not only the indentation forces values increase depending on the indentation velocity increment, but also they decrease depending on the number of cycles. While the fingertip recovery depends on the time, but not on the indentation velocity. Finally the recovery time was determined: in 5i¾źmin the fingertip restored 99.6i¾ź% of the initial mechanical properties.

Developing grasping devices with the capabilities to carry out dexterous tasks similar to human h... more Developing grasping devices with the capabilities to carry out dexterous tasks similar to human hand are being studied for many decades. To this aim, mathematical analysis such as control of multi-fingered gripper, grasp synthesis algorithms, contact types and their interactions have been explicitly addressed by many researchers. Since human hands are dexterous due to the complex integration of control and numerous sensors, hence they are naturally adaptable to grasp, in-hand manipulation of plurality of object by their construction. On the other hand, artificial grippers require priori knowledge of the payload geometry and configuration to maneuver grasping and manipulation tasks at the very first place. Moreover, theoretical analysis, such as contact kinematics, grasp stability cannot predict the nonholonomic behaviors, and therefore, uncertainties are always present to restrict a maneuver, even though the gripper is kinematically feasible of doing the task. Hence, in general, industrial grippers do exploit simpler mechanisms with least number of fingers and tend to avoid soft materials in the construction primarily to achieve dexterity, reliability, repeatability and speed in the process. However, in-hand manipulation of objects urges certain degrees of flexibility in the gripper design; which is difficult to obtain from a rigid structure and also the use of non-rigid materials reduce speed, accuracy and performance. In this research, a gripper platform named Dexclar (DEXterous reConfigurable moduLAR) is proposed, which addresses the dilemma by combining mechanism and modularity, evaluating payload centric requirements.

ABSTRACT In electronic manufacturing system, the design of the robotic hand with sufficient dexte... more ABSTRACT In electronic manufacturing system, the design of the robotic hand with sufficient dexterity and configuration is important for the successful accomplishment of the assembly task. Due to the growing demand from high-mix manufacturing industry, it is difficult for the traditional robot to grasp a large number of assembly parts or tools having cylinder shapes with correct postures. In this research, a novel jaw like gripper with human-sized anthropomorphic features is designed for in-hand precise positioning and twisting online. It retains the simplicity feature of traditional industrial grippers and dexterity features of dexterous grippers. It can apply a constant gripping force on assembly parts and performs reliable twisting movement within limited time to meet the industrial requirements. Manipulating several cylindrical assembly parts by robot, as an experimental case in this paper, is studied to evaluate its performance. The effectiveness of proposed gripper design and mechanical analysis is proved by the simulation and experimental results.

Intelligent Robots and Systems, 2017

we presented Flexible Links for Flexible Interactio

Springer eBooks, 2012

ABSTRACT This paper presents an application of the virtual prototyping on the reconfigurable mech... more ABSTRACT This paper presents an application of the virtual prototyping on the reconfigurable mechanisms and in particular, in this study, is shown a multibody origami carton folding model. The aim of this work is to reproduce via numerical model the D-RAPS reconfigurable multifinger robot that is in use for this kind of application. Thanks to the trajectory matching, the authors reach model validation only by comparing analytical and numerical results. In addition, this model permits to investigate the carton folding deeper than via experimental tests. In fact, as example, the contact forces between the mechanism finger and carton panel are computed. © Springer-Verlag 2012.

Robotics and Computer-integrated Manufacturing, Jun 1, 2011

An increasing interest towards functionally independent and self-reconfigurable robots featured t... more An increasing interest towards functionally independent and self-reconfigurable robots featured the research direction in the recent past. Such attention is well explained by the characteristics of flexibility and cost-effectiveness which distinguish these modular machines. This scenario framed the birth of many different devices characterized by simplicity of use and versatility. The present manuscript follows these trends by presenting a newly conceived device suitable for being used as a limb, as well as a planar two degrees of freedom manipulator. The features of both parallel and serial kinematic mechanisms have been exploited to the aim of obtaining a device as much as possible independent from the frame to whom it is connected. Formal aspects about position and velocity kinematics are addressed and a specifically built prototype is then used for experimental tests on the new limb.

IEEE Transactions on Haptics, 2017

Understanding the mechanisms of human tactual perception represents a challenging task in haptics... more Understanding the mechanisms of human tactual perception represents a challenging task in haptics and humanoid robotics. A classic approach to tackle this issue is to accurately and exhaustively characterize the mechanical behaviour of human fingertip. The output of this characterization can then be exploited to drive the design of numerical models, which can be used to investigate in depth the mechanisms of human sensing. In this work, we present a novel integrated measurement technique and experimental set up for in vivo characterization of the deformation of the human fingertip at contact, in terms of contact area, force, deformation and pressure distribution. The device presented here compresses the participant's fingertip against a flat surface, while the aforementioned measurements are acquired and experimental parameters such as velocity, finger orientation and displacement (indentation) controlled. Experimental outcomes are then compared and integrated with the output of a 3D finite element (FE) model of the human fingertip, built upon existing validated models. The agreement between numerical and experimental data represents a validation for our approach.

Nowadays the industries have to be reactive in order to satisfy the rapid changing market require... more Nowadays the industries have to be reactive in order to satisfy the rapid changing market requirements. From a traditional process with dedicated production lines, the industrial world is moving toward to a self-controlled production process and to the auto-managed factory systems named Industry 4.0. This is a very challenging step forward and it requires the knowledge of several parameters many of which cannot be measured on-line. So that, the authors have developed a multi-body model of a folding machines with the aim of estimating parameters such as contact forces and panel trajectory useful for the control algorithm. The model is based on an extended campaign of experimental tests and on solid mathematical formulation that leads to determine an accurate crease non-linear stiffness behaviour.

Procedia Manufacturing, 2017

High flexibility and high speed is the goal for industrial manufacturing. However, it is difficul... more High flexibility and high speed is the goal for industrial manufacturing. However, it is difficult to put them together due to the reason that they are contradicting with each other. The authors face this production process problem and presented a new high reconfigurable gripper. It has two degrees of freedom per finger and can support enough payload for manufacturing applications. At same time the simple kinematics permits to be fast. Moreover, not only it is able to handle different workpiece, but the same design concept, can be applied to different scenarios. In this paper the authors motivate and detail all the principals and the concepts used for define and design this gripper. The physical models are shown as proof of this successful project.

This paper describes a general purpose gripper to be used into industrial manufacturing applicati... more This paper describes a general purpose gripper to be used into industrial manufacturing application. The gripper has been developed in the context of the AUTORECON project. It is based on a 2 degrees of freedom finger that is able to adapt itself to objects of various shape, size, material and weight. Thanks to its highly reconfigurable and adaptive capabilities, the gripper described here is an attempt to create a gripper suitable in industrial application to assemble compounds of several different workpieces using only one robot. The high dexterity and the wide range of possible uses of the gripper described here intends to explore a new approach to the design of industrial grippers to be used in factory automation. Moreover, the adaptive capabilities of this gripper make it suitable to grasp workpieces with complicated geometry or highly irregular shape, as it has been proved in performed automotive test rig described here.

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), Jul 10, 2022

High precision industrial applications call for equally precise functioning of industrial manipul... more High precision industrial applications call for equally precise functioning of industrial manipulators, which in turn requires accurate modeling of the manipulators. This paper carries out a detailed study on the modeling of industrial manipulators with elastic joints to improve their accuracy. In particular, the effect of adopting a simple harmonic drive (HD) model and ignoring a dynamic effect called low inertia coupling between the actuators and links on the model accuracy has been analyzed from a parameter estimation perspective. Since the aforementioned model characteristics have been generally ignored for high gear reduction ratios, this study is carried out with five different reduction ratios ranging from low to high, where three different models of a three-joints elastic manipulator are considered. The accuracy of the models is compared using the torque performance metrics of a predefined joint motion of the robot. Furthermore, the impact of the models with different accuracy is assessed by carrying out a state-of-the-art dynamic parameter estimation, and the resulting errors are compared to ascertain the merits of adopting a detailed elastic dynamic model of a manipulator.

The paper presents the conceptual and functional design of a novel machine used to create chamfer... more The paper presents the conceptual and functional design of a novel machine used to create chamfers on wooden beams and called RCT. The authors show, in this paper, the technical problem and the technical specifications used to design a machine to solve the problem. The novelty of the patented invention is based on its originality and usefulness. All claims of the invention are underlined by the novelty and innovation. In this paper, the steps performed to design the proposed machine are discussed in details. The chamfering process is performed using disc saws and the machine is moved on the wooden beam using rubber wheels. This machine uses four disk saws to create chamfers on wooden beams. The particularity of this machine is the possibility to use two or four disk saws for chamfering two or four edges. The market's needs allow us to design a novel machine with original motion and manufacturing process giving a big impact to creativity and innovation in design for manufacturing

International Journal of Advanced Robotic Systems, 2015

ABSTRACT Gesture recognition is essential for human and robot collaboration. Within an industrial... more ABSTRACT Gesture recognition is essential for human and robot collaboration. Within an industrial hybrid assembly cell, the performance of such a system significantly affects the safety of human workers. This work presents an approach to recognizing hand gestures accurately during an assembly task while in collaboration with a robot co-worker. We have designed and developed a sensor system for measuring natural human-robot interactions. The position and rotation information of a human worker's hands and fingertips are tracked in 3D space while completing a task. A modified chain-code method is proposed to describe the motion trajectory of the measured hands and fingertips. The Hidden Markov Model (HMM) method is adopted to recognize patterns via data streams and identify workers' gesture patterns and assembly intentions. The effectiveness of the proposed system is verified by experimental results. The outcome demonstrates that the proposed system is able to automatically segment the data streams and recognize the gesture patterns thus represented with a reasonable accuracy ratio.

Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems, Jun 27, 2015

Automatic mating of electronic connectors is an indispensable process for a wiring harness assemb... more Automatic mating of electronic connectors is an indispensable process for a wiring harness assembly system on assembly line of electrical elements. It is therefore key technology to develop error recovery method when the connector mating process is jammed. This paper presents four search strategies for electronic connectors mating with initial uncertain position error. For each method, we study the relationship between the force sensor signal and relative position within connector pair. We also study the search space requirements for each method since there is not always enough room existed for connector searching. Performance of each method is finally studied by both theoretical and experimental analysis. The experiment results show that the proposed strategies can diagnose the position errors occurring in the F. Chen ( ) • F. Cannella