qb SoftHand

ROS Software Maintainer: qbrobotics®

qb SoftHand Research and qb SoftHand2 Research are adaptable yet robust robotic hand grippers for collaborative robotic arms and for humanoid robots. They are in scale 1:1 with the average human hand and they are similarily composed by 19 completely desensorized phalanges and a flat palm.

The specific system of tendons connected to a single motor (qb SoftHand Research) or dual motor (qb SoftHand2 Research) provides the mechanical adaptability of the grasp to the shape and softness of any object without damaging it, i.e. exploiting the intrinsic capability of soft robots to continuously deform in a huge variety of possible configurations through interaction with external items.

In addition, the actuator(s) fixed directly on the back of the hand barely affects the total encumbrance and weight of the device.

Installation

1. ROS Packages Installation

   Install the last qb SoftHand Research and qb SoftHand2 Research related ROS packages

Usage

1. Basics

   Basic knowledge of the qbrobotics control Nodes

2. Details

   Details on the qbrobotics control Nodes

3. Communication Handler

   Details on the Communication Handler Node

4. Control

   Details on the control Node

1. Control Modes

   Details on the control modes available for the qb SoftHand Research and qb SoftHand2 Research

2. GUI Control

   Control the qb SoftHand Research and the qb SoftHand2 Research through a simple GUI

3. Waypoint Control

   Control the qb SoftHand Research and the qb SoftHand2 Research motion through an automatic waypoint trajectory loop

4. API Control

   Custom control application using the qbrobotics API

Demo Applications

TODO: add video examples (GUI, waypoints)

ROS Packages Overview

Support, Bugs and Contribution

Since we are not only focused on this project it might happen that you encounter some trouble once in a while. Maybe we have just forget to think about your specific use case or we have not seen a terrible bug inside our code. In such a case, we are really sorry for the inconvenience and we will provide any support you need.

To help you in the best way we can, we are asking you to do the most suitable of the following steps:

1. It is the first time you are holding a qb SoftHand Research or a qb SoftHand2 Research, or the first time you are using ROS, or even both: it is always a pleasure for us to solve your problems, but please consider first to read again the instructions above and the ROS tutorials. If you have ROS related questions the right place to ask is ROS Answers.

2. You are a beginner user stuck on something you completely don't know how to solve or you are experiencing unexpected behaviour: feel free to contact us at <support+ros@qbrobotics.com>, you will receive the specific support you need as fast as we can handle it.

3. You are quite an expert user, everything has always worked fine, but now you have founded something strange and you don't know how to fix it: we will be glad if you open an Issue in the package of interest on our Bitbucket.

4. You are definitely an expert user, you have found a bug in our code and you have also correct it: it will be amazing if you open a Pull Request in the package of interest on our Bitbucket; we will merge it as soon as possible.

5. You are comfortable with qbrobotics® products but you are wondering whether is possible to add some additional software features: feel free to open respectively an Issue or a Pull Request in the package of interest on our Bitbucket, according to whether it is just an idea or you have already provided your solution.

In any case, thank you for using qbrobotics® solutions.

Purchase

If you have just found out our company and you are interested in our products, come to visit us and feel free to ask for a quote.

Roadmap

Features to be implemented in the future:

• Improve stability
• CI an tests
• Gazebo simulation
• Improved controller to better replicate the real grasp