Antonio Manuele
Università di Pisa
May 20, 2023
Period
- 2021
Robot
Franka Emika Panda
Title
I used this soft hand as end-effector in combination with the Franka Emika Panda and an Intel Real Sense for a Pick and Place task. All objects were managed by ROS nodes.
Pro
Easy to set up and control. Compatible with ROS, MATLAB/Simulink and C++. Since it has only one motor it is less expensive than competitors.
Con
The closing speed is not so high and is not ideal for pick and place with moving objects. The hand closure may not suit the object to be grasped.
Alessandro De rossi
Industrial Automation Group (IAG)
Mar 24, 2023
Period
- 2018
Robot
LBR IIWA 14 R820
Title
Manipulation of objects : The hand proved to be an excellent tool for the task, providing a high level of versatility and durability.
Pro
The hand can be easily customized and programmed to perform a wide variety of grasping and manipulation tasks. It also comes with a suite of software tools and libraries that greatly facilitate the development of control algorithms.
Another upside of the qb Soft Hand Research is its durability. Despite being put through rigorous testing, the hand showed no signs of wear and tear. This makes it an ideal tool for long-term research projects.
Con
it is certainly a valuable tool for research applications, the price point may be prohibitive for some users or smaller projects.
Verified user
Feb 9, 2023
Period
- 2022
Robot
kuka lwr, franka emika panda, ur5
Title
Great end effector for research applications.
Pro
Great model for a variety of tasks. Its compliant design makes this model great for hri and interaction with fragile environments. I used both the SoftHand1 and the SoftHand2. The latter is the new model with two motors, which increases the capability of the hand enabling some degree of manipulation capability.
Con
Payload is not very high
Sofia Faraci
Università di Pisa
Feb 1, 2023
Period
- 2022
Robot
Franka Emika Panda
Title
This product has been used as an end-effector for a Teaching by Demonstration learning system applied to robotic manipulators. It was chosen as an end-effector for its anthropomorphic form since the robot had to reproduce a manipulation task demonstrated by the human user. It was used for multiple tasks such as stacking, sorting, pick and place, drawing and following a wire with a loop.
Pro
ROS compatible.
It can be used with a variety of robots such as the Franka Emika Panda robot.
It's easy to control since it has only one actuator.
Its soft nature allows the grasping of a wide range of objects, the hand adapts to the grasped object.
Con
To perform effective grasps and avoid losing the object during manipulation, the best grasp pose has to be carefully studied and sometimes it may result in an unnatural grasp for a human being. A force sensor is not included, so the user has to carefully set the desired force in order to manipulate fragile objects. It has a payload of 1.7kg.
Paolo Bonifati
University of Pisa
Dec 14, 2022
Period
- 2022
Robot
Franka Emika Panda
Title
An underactuated antropomorphic compliant end-effector for grasping tasks
Pro
The compliance of this robotic hand allows to perform effective grasping with a wide range of objects. It is possible to control the hand via ROS, Matlab or C++. The hand movement is possible through a single motor, making it cheaper than competing solutions available on the market.
Con
The underactuation of the hand does not allow to perform manipulation tasks, i.e. to control a single finger. It is also challenging to calculate the total force acting on the object since touch sensors can only be attached to the tips of the fingers.
Marco Baracca
University of Pisa
Nov 21, 2022
Period
- 2022
Robot
Franka Emika Panda
Title
It is an anthropomorphic compliant end-effector able to grasp different object with simple control action
Pro
The strength of this end-effector is its mechanical structure. It is designed to be deformable and this characteristic permits to grasp different object using only one motor to control the closure of the hand. Its compliance permits to interact with the environment or to handle fragile objects.
Con
A single degree of actuation does not permit complex manipulation tasks and the compliance of the hand could be a drawback for grasping heavy objects.
Alessandro Palleschi
University of Pisa
Oct 30, 2022
Period
- 2022
Robot
Universal Robot UR10e, Franka Emika Panda, Kuka LWR IV
Title
A compact and easy-to-use anthropomorphic soft hand
Pro
It is simple to control, as you need to control just one motor, and it allows grasping a large variety of objects thanks to its compliance. The soft nature of the gripper makes it robust and suitable for collaborative tasks. It is also possible to interface and use this gripper with a Universal Robot, since qbRobotics provides a URCap for the SoftHand. It is also possible to control it via ROS, Matlab/Simulink, or using its C++ API.
Con
Because of the under actuation (just one motor) it is not possible to use this gripper for dexterous or in-hand manipulation. The lack of a simulator makes it difficult to adapt data-drive grasp planning methods for this gripper, as data collection in simulation is not possible.