@conference {3683, title = {Touch-Based Grasp Primitives for Soft Hands: Applications to Human-to-Robot Handover Tasks and Beyond}, booktitle = {2018 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)}, year = {2018}, author = {M. Bianchi and G. Averta and E. Battaglia and C. Rosales and M. Bonilla and A. Tondo and M. Poggiani and G. Santaera and S. Ciotti and M. G. Catalano and A. Bicchi} } @article {3366, title = {Towards Dexterous Manipulation with Augmented Adaptive Synergies: the Pisa/IIT SoftHand 2}, journal = {IEEE Transactions on Robotics}, volume = {Early Access}, year = {2018}, month = {06/2018 }, type = {Regular Paper}, abstract = {

In the recent years, a clear trend towards simplification emerged in the development of robotic hands. The use of soft robotic approaches has been a useful tool in this prospective, enabling complexity reduction by embodying part of grasping intelligence in the hand mechanical structure. Several hand prototypes designed according to such principles have accomplished good results in terms of grasping simplicity, robustness, and reliability. Among them, the Pisa/IIT SoftHand demonstrated the feasibility of a large variety of grasping tasks, by means of only one actuator and an opportunely designed tendon driven differential mechanism. However, the use of a single degree of actuation prevents the execution of more complex tasks, like fine pre-shaping of fingers and in-hand manipulation. While possible in theory, simply doubling the Pisa/IIT SoftHand actuation system has several disadvantages, e.g. in terms of space and mechanical complexity. To overcome these limitations we propose a novel design framework for tendon driven mechanisms, where the main idea is to turn transmission friction from a disturbance into a design tool. In this way the degrees of actuation can be doubled with little additional complexity.

By leveraging on this idea we design a novel robotic hand, the Pisa/IIT SoftHand 2. We present here its design, modeling, control, and experimental validation. The hand demonstrates that by opportunely combining only two degrees of actuation with hand softness, a large variety of grasping and manipulation tasks can be performed only relying on the intelligence embodied in the mechanism. Examples include rotating objects with different shapes, opening a jar, pouring coffee from a glass.

}, issn = {Print 1552-3098; Onlline 1941-0468}, author = {C. Della Santina and C. Piazza and G. Grioli and M. G. Catalano and A. Bicchi} } @conference {3156, title = {Tele-Impedance with Force Feedback under Communication Time Delay}, booktitle = {IEEE International Conference of Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS2017)}, year = {2017}, publisher = {IEEE}, organization = {IEEE}, address = {Vancouver, Canada, September 24{\textendash}28, 2017}, keywords = {Robotics}, author = {M. Laghi and A. Ajoudani and M. G. Catalano and A. Bicchi} } @article {2544, title = {ThimbleSense: a fingertip-wearable tactile sensor for grasp analysis}, journal = {IEEE Transactions on Haptics}, volume = {9}, year = {2016}, note = {
This work was partially supported by the European Community funded projects WEARHAP, PACMAN and SOMA (contracts 601165, 600918 and 645599 respectively), by the ERC Advanced Grant no. 291166 SoftHands
}, month = {03/2016}, pages = {121-133}, abstract = {

Accurate measurement of contact forces between hand and grasped objects is crucial to study sensorimotor control during grasp and manipulation. In this work we introduce ThimbleSense, a prototype of individual-digit wearable force/torque sensor based on the principle of intrinsic tactile sensing. By exploiting the integration of this approach with an active marker-based motion capture system, the proposed device simultaneously measures absolute position and orientation of the fingertip, which in turn yields measurements of contacts and force components expressed in a global reference frame. The main advantage of this approach with respect to more conventional solutions is its versatility. Specifically, ThimbleSense can be used to study grasping and manipulation of a wide variety of objects, while still retaining complete force/torque measurements. Nevertheless, validation of the proposed device is a necessary step before it can be used for experimental purposes. In this work we present the results of a series of experiments designed to validate the accuracy of ThimbleSense measurements and evaluate the effects of distortion of tactile afferent inputs caused by the device{\textquoteright}s rigid shells on grasp forces.

}, keywords = {Haptics, Robotics}, issn = {1939-1412}, doi = {10.1109/TOH.2015.2482478}, url = {http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=\&arnumber=7294702}, author = {E. Battaglia and M. Bianchi and Altobelli, A and G. Grioli and M. G. Catalano and A. Serio and M. Santello and A. Bicchi} } @conference {2881, title = {Toward an Adaptive Foot for Natural Walking}, booktitle = {International Conference on Humanoid Robots (HUMANOIDS2016)}, year = {2016}, address = {Cancun, Mexico, November 15-17, 2016}, abstract = {

Many walking robot presented in literature stand
on rigid flat feet, with a few notable exceptions that embed
flexibility in their feet to optimize the energetic cost of walking.
This paper proposes a novel adaptive robot foot design, whose
main goal is to ease the task of standing and walking on uneven
terrains. After explaining the rationale behind our design
approach, we present the design of the SoftFoot, a foot able
to comply with uneven terrains and to absorb shocks thanks to
its intrinsic adaptivity, while still being able to rigidly support
the stance, maintaining a rather extended contact surface,
and effectively enlarging the equivalent support polygon. The
paper introduces the robot design and prototype and presents
preliminary validation and comparison versus a rigid flat foot
with comparable footprint and sole.

}, keywords = {Robotics}, doi = {10.1109/HUMANOIDS.2016.7803423}, url = {http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=\&arnumber=7803423}, author = {C. Piazza and C. Della Santina and Gasparri, G. M. and M. G. Catalano and G. Grioli and M. Garabini and A. Bicchi} } @conference {2083, title = {ThimbleSense: A new wearable tactile device for human and robotic fingers }, booktitle = {Haptics Symposium (HAPTICS), 2014 IEEE}, year = {2014}, address = {Houston, TX}, keywords = {Haptics, Robotics}, doi = {10.1109/HAPTICS.2014.6775571}, author = {E. Battaglia and G. Grioli and M. G. Catalano and M. Bianchi and A. Serio and M. Santello and A. Bicchi} } @conference {2130, title = {ThimbleSense: An Individual-Digit Wearable Tactile Sensor for Experimental Grasp Studies}, booktitle = {IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation - ICRA 2014}, year = {2014}, pages = {2728 - 2735 }, publisher = {IEEE}, organization = {IEEE}, address = { Hong Kong, May 31 - June 7, 2014}, abstract = {

Measuring contact forces applied by a hand to a grasped object is a necessary step to understand the mysteries that still hide in the unparalleled human grasping ability. Nevertheless, simultaneous collection of information about the position of contacts and about the magnitude and direction of forces is still an elusive task. In this paper we introduce a wearable device that addresses this problem, and can be used to measure generalized forces during grasping. By assembling two supports around a commercial 6-axis force/torque sensor we obtain a thimble that can be easily positioned on a fingertip. The device is used in conjunction with an active marker-based motion capture system to simultaneously obtain absolute position and orientation of the thimbles, without requiring any assumptions on the kinematics of the hand. Finally, using the contact centroid algorithm, introduced in [1], position of contact points during grasping are determined. This paper shows the design and implementation of the device, as well as some preliminary experimental validation.

}, keywords = {Haptics, Robotics}, doi = {10.1109/ICRA.2014.6907250 }, url = {http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=\&arnumber=6907250}, author = {E. Battaglia and G. Grioli and M. G. Catalano and M. Santello and A. Bicchi} } @conference {1666, title = {Teleimpedance Control of a Synergy-Driven Anthropomorphic Hand}, booktitle = {IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, IROS 2013}, year = {2013}, month = {November 3-7}, pages = {1985 - 1991}, address = {Tokyo, Japan}, keywords = {Haptics, Robotics}, doi = {10.1109/IROS.2013.6696620 }, author = {A. Ajoudani and S. B. Godfrey and M. G. Catalano and G. Grioli and N G Tsagarakis and A. Bicchi} } @conference {1239, title = {Towards variable impedance assembly: the VSA peg-in-hole}, booktitle = {IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots}, year = {2012}, address = {Osaka, Japan}, keywords = {Robotics}, author = {L. Balletti and A. Rocchi and F. A. W. Belo and M. G. Catalano and M. Garabini and G. Grioli and A. Bicchi} }