Notes for a History of Grasping Devices
In this chapter an evolution of grasping devices is briefly presented with notes by looking at design solutions. A history of grasping devices and their evolutions is outlined by using illustrative examples of both mechanical design and inven ted solution
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Notes for a History of Grasping Devices Marco Ceccarelli
Abstract In this chapter an evolution of grasping devices is briefly presented with notes by looking at design solutions. A history of grasping devices and their evolutions is outlined by using illustrative examples of both mechanical design and invented solutions.
1.1 Introduction Grasping devices have evolved to help humans in manipulation for handling objects of different sizes, materials, and conditions. Grasping has been considered as an essential part of manipulation and only recently a specific attention has been addressed to grasping devices as independent mechanical/mechatronic designs with theory, practice, and application. Even in the history of mechanical systems no particular attention has been devoted to grasping devices as independent systems. This is also due to the fact that grasping devices have been conceived, built, and used, as they still are, for helping humans in manipulation with two categories, namely tools and prostheses. Tools are those systems that enable humans to enlarge grasping capability or to achieve difficult or dangerous grasps. Prostheses are systems that are developed to restore grasping capability in human arms when hands are lost. Grasping devices are tools that are useful to perform the loading of objects in systems for manipulation, handling, or transportation. They are fundamentals
M. Ceccarelli (&) LARM: Laboratory of Robotics and Mechatronics, University of Cassino and South Latium, Via G. Di Biasio, 43 03043 Cassino, FR, Italy e-mail: [email protected]
G. Carbone (ed.), Grasping in Robotics, Mechanisms and Machine Science 10, DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4471-4664-3_1, Springer-Verlag London 2013
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components in achieving successfully these tasks. Since antiquity grasping devices have been conceived and used to help or substitute human extremities in achieving or enhancing grasping tasks. Grasping devices can be considered mechanical interfaces, when they are not even the goal systems yet, that perform mechanical actions on objects to be grasped. A variety of grasping devices have been developed during machine evolutions and they are today available with mechatronic solutions that are based on actions and motions of elements that are in contact with the objects to be grasped. From historical viewpoints, grasping devices were developed as tools since the beginning of technical skills in human society. When such a skill was so successful early prostheses were also conceived even in antiquity. Although with scarce specific attention, even in the past, interest has been addressed to the study of evolution of grasping systems, but as part of manipulation systems. In fact, in historical surveys on developments of machines, in general grasping devices are not specifically considered but they are still included as part of machines as for example in [2, 9, 18, 22, 35]. Some specific attention is addressed recently mainly within the history of robots, as indicated for example in [8]. Even technical surve
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