Abstract
A tendon-driven robotic finger transmission architecture and associated design methodology are disclosed. A hierarchical mixed-actuator N+1 configuration uses a remotely located macro actuator to drive a single wrist-crossing macro tendon that produces flexion across multiple finger joints, and one or more palm-housed mini actuators to provide extension and correction torques. A pulley-based routing arrangement places rolling elements at or near joint rotation centers to reduce configuration-dependent tendon excursion coupling, including routing the macro tendon through or coincident with the MCP abduction/adduction axis to reduce parasitic ab/ad torque. A force polytope optimization procedure computes feasible fingertip force polytopes from tendon bounds and a tendon-to-joint Jacobian, and maximizes coverage of a Coulomb friction cone for target grasp scenarios while satisfying controllability, bandwidth (≥5 Hz), and backdrivability (<0.05 Nm) constraints. The approach supports reduced wrist-crossing tendons (e.g., one per finger) with functional grasp forces.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Anonymous, "Optimized Tendon-Driven Transmission Architecture for Multi-Joint Robotic Manipulation Systems", Technical Disclosure Commons, (September 02, 2026)
https://www.tdcommons.org/dpubs_series/11579