Controlling the power grasp with incomplete touch sensor information

Grasping objects with a multifingered hand in an enveloping manner, known as power grasp, has three major aspects: grasp planning, optimal contact force distribution and dynamic control of the desired contact forces. The focus of this paper is on the third problem. The maintenance of the desired optimal contact forces should be normally based on the complete contact force sensing, which is difficult to provide. The real, inexpensive force sensing resistor (FSR) type of touch sensors can measure only the normal component of the contact forces. This paper proposes a simple feedback controller based on such deficient feedback information