A Flexible Finger Joint Included Movable Tension Pulley

It is necessary to consider touch or impact forces when a robot moves in human environments. An actual human's finger with its passive element, i.e. skin and muscle, protects both finger tip itself and outer objects. This paper aims at producing such passive element in a finger joint by employing a movable tension-pulley and a transmission wire, controlling actively the touch torque. It was cleared by the torque experiment that the finger having the passive mechanism controlled actively and softly the touch on the object.