作者：R. Colin Johnson 你曾經(jīng)嘗試以單手打開瓶蓋或信封封口嗎？或是其他需要用兩只手來做的事？現(xiàn)在，如果你穿戴上美國(guó)麻省理工學(xué)院(MIT)開發(fā)的新式機(jī)器手腕，這些工作要以單手來做，可說是輕而易舉。盡管這款可穿戴式機(jī)器人仍處于原型階段，但已為具備“協(xié)同作用”(synergism)的輔助機(jī)器人技術(shù)建立新的典范。 “眾所周知，人類的手部動(dòng)作是由機(jī)體間的協(xié)同所控制──這就是肌肉群經(jīng)由單一控制訊號(hào)啟動(dòng)的概念，”MIT博士候選人Faye Wu指出，“我們想把這種協(xié)同控制的概念延伸至可穿戴式機(jī)器人研究上?！?

MIT博士候選人Faye Wu表示，在靠近拇指和小指旁的兩個(gè)機(jī)械手指可依照人類手指的動(dòng)作，協(xié)助用戶以單手完成通常需要兩只手才能進(jìn)行的任務(wù)。
Source：MITEo8esmc

為此，可穿戴的手腕機(jī)器人配備一副手套，可測(cè)量每個(gè)手指的角度和方向，然后將控制訊號(hào)傳送至其他手指以實(shí)現(xiàn)協(xié)同反應(yīng)。例如，在抓取一個(gè)大型對(duì)象時(shí)，一般的手指只需抓住頂部，讓較長(zhǎng)的機(jī)器人手指抓握住底部。 “當(dāng)我們用餐時(shí)手拿刀叉或是駕駛汽車，如果長(zhǎng)時(shí)間使用這些工具，就會(huì)感覺他們像是身體的一部份。因此，這就是我們?cè)噲D用在機(jī)器人的想法。如果人們有了額外的手 指或手臂，而且能與其良好互動(dòng)，就會(huì)感覺他們就像是身體的一部份延伸，”MIT機(jī)械工程教授Harry Asada說。 Asada 的研究小組正開發(fā)新的協(xié)同算法，讓額外的機(jī)器人附件協(xié)助難以用單手完成的任務(wù)，未來，還可能進(jìn)一步協(xié)助人類順利完成以雙手或雙臂難以完成的工作。此外， 并不需要給這些機(jī)器手人清楚的指令，它就能依照與人類手指協(xié)同作業(yè)的方式，配合手指的動(dòng)作與需要共同抓取對(duì)象。

如果有機(jī)器手指幫忙握住杯子的話，人們只要以單手就能輕松攪拌飲料了。
Source：MITEo8esmc

MIT 將這種額外的機(jī)器手指稱為“贅生”手指，因?yàn)樗鼈兪怯蛇B接在一起的致動(dòng)器組成，與人類的手指頭共同發(fā)揮同等強(qiáng)度的力量。研究人員們經(jīng)由探索人類抓取對(duì)象的方式發(fā)現(xiàn)，手指的這種協(xié)同作用只需利用兩種基本算法──使手指并攏，以及向內(nèi)彎曲取物。大多數(shù)的對(duì)象抓取動(dòng)作都只是這兩種基本模式的組合。 研究人員們希望，這些基本模式也適用于其他肢體發(fā)揮“生物－機(jī)器”協(xié)同效應(yīng)，不過，研究人員的下一步在于為這項(xiàng)組合添加動(dòng)力。例如，如何讓機(jī)器手指知道要施 加更多力量，才能拾取沉重或光滑的小對(duì)象？其次，不同的人在抓取對(duì)象的施力與方式也有所不同，因而必須為不同的技巧編譯工具庫(kù)，使機(jī)器人可針對(duì)協(xié)助對(duì)象從 工具庫(kù)中挑選正確的算法，學(xué)習(xí)辨識(shí)以及更有效地進(jìn)行協(xié)助。 該研究小組還致力于縮小機(jī)器手指機(jī)制，使其能夠內(nèi)建于手環(huán)中，在需要時(shí)才彈出多余手指來幫忙，在不用時(shí)又能隨即內(nèi)折妥善收藏。 本文授權(quán)編譯自EE Times，版權(quán)所有，謝絕轉(zhuǎn)載 編譯：Susan Hong 參考英文原文：MIT Wrist-Robot Adds Extra Fingers，by R. Colin Johnson {pagination} MIT Wrist-Robot Adds Extra Fingers One hand is better than two R. Colin Johnson PORTLAND, Ore. — Ever try to get the lid off a jar with one hand, or open an envelope, or 1,000 other two-handed tasks? Well now you can, that is if you are wearing the new wrist-robot from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Still in the prototype stage, the wearable robot nevertheless offers a new paradigm in assistive robotics called "synergism." "It is well known that the motion of the human hand is controlled by synergy -- which is the idea that groups of muscles are activated together by a single control signal," said MIT doctoral candidate Faye Wu in a video about her presentation this week at Robotics: Science and Systems 2014 (July 22 through July 24, Berkeley, Calif.) "We want to extend the synergy-based control to wearable robots." MIT doctoral candidate Faye Wu shows that by following the motions of the fingers the two robotic fingers adjacent to thumb and pinky can help users perform tasks with one hand that would ordinarily take two. (Source: MIT) To do so, the wrist worn robot has a glove attached that measures the angle and orientation of each finger, then passes a control signal to the extra fingers to react synergistically. For instance, if a large object is being picked up, the normal fingers only need grasp its top while the longer robotic fingers grab its bottom portion. Because the user does not have to give explicit control signals to the new digits, the learning curve for working with extra fingers for assistance if not very steep. "We use a knife and fork, or we drive our car, and if you use these tools for a long time, they feel like and extension of your body. So that is exactly what we are trying to do with robotics. If you could have extra fingers or a extra arm and communicate with them very well, then you've got to feel too that they are an extension of your body," said Harry Asada, the Ford professor of engineering in MIT's Department of Mechanical Engineering. Asada's group is creating synergistic algorithms that allow extra robotic appendages to follow-along helping out with tasks that would be too difficult for one-hand, and someday an extra hand for tasks difficult with two-hands, or even an extra arm for tasks too difficult for two-arms. No explicit commands will be given to the robot, it just follows along helping out synergistically the way all your fingers cooperate to grasp something. Stirring a drink with one hand is easy if the robotic fingers hold the cup. (Source: MIT) Officially, the extra robotic fingers are called "supernumerary" because they consist of actuators linked together to exert forces of equal strength to actual human fingers. Through studying the way that humans grasp objects, the researchers found that synergistically there are only two basic algorithms used -- bringing the fingers together and twisting them inwards. Grasping most objects is just a combination of these two general patterns. The researchers hope that the bio-mechanical synergy of the other limbs will also follow a few basic patterns, but right now their next step is to add force into the mix. For instance, how do the fingers know to exert more force on small objects that are heavy or slippery? Secondly, different people use slightly different approaches to grasping objects, making the compiling of a library of those techniques a goal -- so that the robot can learn to recognize and assist more efficiently by picking the correct algorithm from the library for the person they are helping. The group is also working to downsize the mechanism so that it could fit inside a bracelet, with the extra fingers popping out when necessary, but then folding back up when no longer needed.