Festo pneumatic robotics get to grips with
artificial intelligence
W
hether it’s grabbing, holding
or turning, touching, typing or
pressing - we use our hands for
the most diverse tasks. The human hand,
with its unique combination of power,
dexterity and fine motor skills, is a true
miracle tool of nature.
So, what could be more natural than
equipping robots in collaborative
workspaces with a gripper that is
modelled on the human hand, and which
solves various tasks by learning through
artificial intelligence?
Festo showed its pneumatic
BionicSoftHand at Hanover Fair 2019.
Combined with the BionicSoftArm, a
pneumatic lightweight robot, the Future
Concepts are suitable for human-robot
collaboration.
The BionicSoftHand is pneumatically
operated, so that it can interact safely
and directly with people. Unlike the
human hand, the BionicSoftHand has
no bones. Its fingers consist of flexible
bellows structures with air chambers.
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The bellows are enclosed in the fingers
by a special 3D textile coat knitted from
elastic, high-strength threads. With
the help of the textile, it is possible to
determine exactly where the structure
expands and generates power, and where
it is prevented from expanding. This
makes it light, flexible, adaptable and
sensitive, yet capable of exerting strong
forces. Specifically, the BionicSoftHand is
required to rotate a 12-sided cube so
that a previously defined side points
upwards at the end. The necessary
movement strategy is taught in a virtual
environment with the aid of a digital
twin, which is created with the help of
data from a depth-sensing camera via
computer vision and the algorithms of
artificial intelligence.
Artificial Intelligence Proportional piezo valves for precise
control
The learning methods of machines
are comparable to those of humans:
they require a positive or negative
feedback following their actions in
order to classify and learn from them.
BionicSoftHand uses the method of
reinforcement learning.
This meansthat instead of imitating a
specific action, the hand is merely given
a goal. It uses trial and error to achieve
its goal. Based on received feedback, it
gradually optimises its actions until the
task is finally solved successfully.
In order to keep the effort of tubing the
BionicSoftHand as low as possible, the
developers have specially designed a
small, digitally controlled valve terminal,
which is mounted directly on the hand.
This means that the tubes for controlling
the gripper fingers do not have to be
pulled through the entire robot arm.
Thus, the BionicSoftHand can be quickly
and easily connected and operated
with only one tube each for supply air
and exhaust air. With the proportional
piezo valves used, the movements of the
fingers can be precisely controlled.