Deformational features of soft-fingertips applied to object manipulations: theoretical and experimental analyses

This paper provides the fundamental dynamic deformation features for soft-fingered object manipulation tasks. To this end, we present a dynamic model for an object manipulation system by a two-fingered hand using soft fingertips. The model reveals that soft fingertips employed in a multi-fingered hand lead to certain deformation effects during object manipulation that are closely related to the motion control of the manipulated object. Through several experimental works, we discuss on the deformational influence of soft fingertips during manipulation in a two-fingered operation.