Design and analysis of an anthropomorphic finger joint for robotic dexterous hand

One of the problems in the design of a robotic dexterous hand is that it is difficult to achieve the same size of the human counterpart with all the actuators integrated into the hand. The design of an anthropomorphic joint which provides pitch and yaw motion of the finger relative to the palm was described. The joint consists of two intersecting axes and five bevel gears, which allows the motors to be placed in the palm to form a compact structure. The kinematic model of the joint was developed and verified by a virtual prototype. The joint can improve the dynamic performance and simplify the structural design of the hand.