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Remote-Controlled Ambidextrous Robot Hand Actuated by Pneumatic Muscles: from Feasibility Study to Design and Control Algorithms A thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Emre Akyürek Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering School of Engineering and Design Brunel University June 2015 Declaration of Authorship I, Emre Akyürek, certify that the work introduced in this thesis entitled “Remote- Controlled Ambidextrous Robot Hand Actuated by Pneumatic Muscles: from Feasibility Study to Design and Control” is my own. I confirm that: -This work was entirely achieved while in candidature for a Doctor of Philosophy degree at Brunel University. -The works done by my colleagues or achieved as teamwork are clearly defined and specified. -The articles I have consulted for my research are referenced. Signed: Date: 10/06/2015 i To my ex-brothers in arms Kim-Hwa Khoo, Michaël Rouart and Daniel Truong By the sides of whom I fought these evil monsters called exams and assignments. To those by the sides of whom I bled and suffered, Learning the true meanings of distress and agony. To those who were always at my side To heal my wounds and to repair my weapons, Teaching me the true meanings of friendship and solidarity. To my dear friends Kim-Hwa, Michaël and Daniel, Who were my only family on the battlefield. To my ex-brothers in arms, By the sides of whom I have become the warrior I am. ii Abstract This thesis relates to the development of the Ambidextrous Robot Hand engineered in Brunel University. Assigned to a robotic hand, the ambidextrous feature means that two different behaviours are accessible from a single robot hand, because of its fingers architecture which permits them to bend in both ways. On one hand, the robotic device can therefore behave as a right hand whereas, on another hand, it can behave as a left hand. The main contribution of this project is its ambidextrous feature, totally unique in robotics area. Moreover, the Ambidextrous Robot Hand is actuated by pneumatic artificial muscles (PAMs), which are not commonly used to drive robot hands. The type of the actuators consequently adds more originality to the project. The primary challenge is to reach an ambidextrous behaviour using PAMs designed to actuate non-ambidextrous robot hands. Thus, a feasibility study is carried out for this purpose. Investigating a number of mechanical possibilities, an ambidextrous design is reached with features almost identical for its right and left sides. A testbench is thereafter designed to investigate this possibility even further to design ambidextrous fingers using 3D printing and an asymmetrical tendons routing engineered to reduce the number of actuators. The Ambidextrous Robot Hand is connected to a remote control interface accessible from its website, which provides video streaming as feedback, to be eventually used as an online rehabilitation device. The secondary main challenge is to implement control algorithms on a robot hand with a range twice larger than others, with an asymmetrical tendons routing and actuated by nonlinear actuators. A number of control algorithms are therefore investigated to interact with the angular displacement of the fingers and the grasping abilities of the hand. Several solutions are found out, notably the implementations of a phasing plane switch control and a sliding-mode control, both specific to the architecture of the Ambidextrous Robot Hand. The implementation of these two algorithms on a robotic hand actuated by PAMs is almost as innovative as the ambidextrous design of the mechanical structure itself. iii Acknowledgements First and foremost, I wish to express my acknowledgments to everybody who worked at my side or who provided me assistance on the Ambidextrous Robot Hand project. Firstly, I thank my parents for the funding of my PhD and their support over these three years I spent in United Kingdom. Secondly, I thank my supervisors. Dr Tatiana Kalganova, for having proposed me to carry on my engineering internship as a PhD study and for having gathered teams of students every year to work on the different parts of the project. Dr Roger Powell, for his approval and his support about the control methods I used during the third year of my project. Dr Peter Turner, for his advices in electronics and for having guided me on my first steps in control theory during my first year, but who sadly passed away in the middle of my second year. May he rest in peace. Finally, my unofficial supervisor Prof Stelarc, who had the idea of a robotic hand with an ambidextrous design, and without whom the project would not exist. I acknowledge him for his enthusiasm and for having funded a number of pneumatic and electronic devices, without which the Ambidextrous Hand could not be actuated. I am very grateful to Shadow Robot Company, which also played an important role in the project. They provided a number of pneumatic materials, electronic devices and hardware coding at an early stage of the project. On these points, I mainly thank Mr Richard Walker for his advices and his help about computer and software parts, Mr Armando De La Rosa Thames and Mr Matthew Godden for their knowledge in pneumatic equipment, as well as Mr Agust Johannson for his knowledge in analog electronics. During the second and third years of my PhD, Shadow Robot carried on provided help by finding and selling very specific devices, using their relationships with professional suppliers. I also thank Festo, for having sold a large amount of pneumatic muscles at half price and for having received me for free at a training session about modern industrial pneumatic in the beginning of my second year of PhD. Then I wish to sincerely acknowledge each of my colleagues, who joined the Ambidextrous Robot Hand in partial fulfilment for their Bachelor or Master degrees, either as half-time researchers through an academic year or as research visitors during short iv internships. None of them were paid but each contributed to the project in one way or another. Mashood Mukhtar, the only PhD student but me, who joined the project in the beginning of my third year. His analog and research skills were helpful to complete my work. Mashood is the one who will keep cohesion in the project and who will guide the incomers after my departure. I wish him the best of luck. Nicolas Lesne, who worked on the project in summer 2014. His solid practical knowledge allowed him to implement a new type of sensors and additional electronic devices on the hardware system. Nicolas also upgraded this hardware system and computed very fast the grasping algorithms that I engineered. Paul Bazin, who joined the project during the academic year 2013/2014, Marina Honoré, Frédéric Giang and Anthony Tran, who were at my side in summer 2013. Paul and Marina worked on the signal acquisition of electromyography, Frédéric considerably improved a hand gesture recognition application and Anthony developed a server connected to the software frameworks Robotic Operating System. Although none of the works achieved by these four students directly interfere with my research, I appreciated their company and their contribution to the project. The mechanical team of the academic year 2012/2013: Luke Steele, Michal Simko, Luke Kavanagh and Alisdair Nimmo, for having designed the mechanical structure of the Ambidextrous Robot Hand I have worked on during my third year. In addition to have all contributed to the design of ambidextrous fingers, each of them worked on specific parts as well. Luke S. designed Hall effect sensors and implemented them in the hand. Michal modified the design of a number of mechanical structures in record time, to make them compatible with other versions of pneumatic muscles received very late. Luke K. worked on the thumb, the palm, the routing and fixation of tendons. Alisdair also worked on the thumb and the palm, as well as on the implementation of load cells. A special acknowledgment to Anthony Huynh, for the excellent work he did on the hardware part during the academic year 2012/2013, making microcontroller units compatible with a full robot hand. Anthony worked with me on many parts, such as analog and pneumatic interfaces, sensors’ calibrations, control algorithms, remote experiments, electronic and mechanical testing. A number of sleepless nights were spent on some of these v tasks during my second year. Other kinds of sleepless nights were spent together during my third year, this time playing video games and watching horror movies. Thank you for being such an excellent friend, Anthony! I would like to emphasise that Luke S., Michal, Luke K. and Anthony carried on working on the project for one month and half after their deadline (Alisdair could not continue as he was recruited for a job), even though they had already submitted their report long ago, without expecting any rewards but own satisfaction. My high school friend Michel Heinrich, who came in Brunel in autumn 2012, to design the project’s website and to debug issues with the remote control system. Michel being a professional web designer, working with him allowed me to acquire knowledge about web development very fast. The remote control team of summer 2012: Alexandre Dilly, Fabrice Jourdan and Zhu Liu, who made the robot hand prototype move from internet with a video feedback for the first time, through a number of applications. A special acknowledgement to Alexandre for having worked very efficiently and produced so much in a very short time. Designing a server-client interface including an embedded webcam, Alexandre reached all his requirements at half of his internship. He was then asked to work on a plugin for hand gesture recognition using a webcam, adding even more originality to the project.

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