| Abstract: | It is well known that three frictionless fingers suffice to immobilize any 2D object with triangular shape but four fingers are necessary for a parallelepiped. However, it has been recently shown that only two fingers are enough to realize secure grasp of a rigid object with parallel flat surfaces in a dynamic sense if finger ends have a hemispherical shape with appropriate radius and thereby rollings are induced between finger ends and object surfaces. This paper focuses on the two problems: (1) dynamic force/torque balance of 2D polygonal objects under the effect of gravity force by means of a pair of rolling contacts and (2) concurrent realization of dynamically secure grasp and orientation control of 2D polygonal objects by using a pair of multi‐fingered hands with hemispherical ends and sensory feedback signals without knowing object kinematics and mass center. It is shown that the force/torque balance can be attained by controlling both the contact positions and inducing adequate forces in both normal and tangential directions at each of contact points indirectly through finger joints without knowing object mass center and other kinematic parameters. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. |
