CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

A hand is considered as an agent of human brain and is the most intriguing and versatile appendage to the human body. Over the last several years, attempts were made to build a prosthetic/robotic hand to replace a human hand to fully simulate the various natural/human-like operations of moving, grasping, lifting, twisting, and so on. Replicating the human hand in all its various functions is still a challenging task due to the extreme complexity of a human hand, which has 27 bones, controlled by about 38 muscles to provide the hand with 22 degrees of freedom (DOFs), and incorporates about 17,000 tactile units of four different types [1, 2]. Parallels between dextrous robot and human hands were explored by examining sensor motor integration in the design and control of these robots through bringing together experimental psychologists, kinesiologists, computer scientists, and electrical and mechanical engineers.

In this chapter, we present introductory material on relevance tomilitary, overview of control strategies, fusion of hard and soft control strategies, and summary of the remaining chapters.

Background

The proposed book is an outgrowth of the interdisciplinary Biomedical Sciences and Engineering (BMSE) research project exemplifying The Third Revolution: The Convergence of Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, and Engineering 1 [3-6]. It is to be noted that the book Fusion of Hard and Soft Control Strategies for the Robotic Hand basically focuses on the robotic hand applicable to prosthetic/robotic and nonprosthetic applications starting from industrial [7], operation in chemical and nuclear hazardous environments [8, 9], space station building, repair and maintenance [10, 11], explosive and terrorist situations [12] to robotic surgery [13].

1.1 Relevance to Military

During the recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, "at least 251,102 people have been killed and 532,715 people have been seriously wounded" [14]. Further, in the United States, the Amputee Coalition of America (ACA) [15] reports that there are approximately 1.9 million people living with limb loss, due to combat operations (such as conflicts and wars), and non-combat operations such as accidents, or birth defects. According to a study of the 1996 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) published by Vital and Health Statistics [16], it is estimated that one out of every 200 people in the United States has had an amputation. That is, one in every 2,000 new born babies will have limb deficiency and over 3,000 people lose a limb every week in America. By the year 2050, the projected number of Americans living with limb amputation will become 3.6 million [17].

The following documents reveal the intense interest by military in the area of smart prosthetic/robotic hand.

1. First, according to [18], recognizing that "arm amputees rely on old devices" and that the existing technology for arm and hand amputees was not changed significantly in the past six decades, the Defense Department is embarking on a research program to "fund prosthetics research" according to [19] to revolutionalize upper-body prosthetics and to develop artificial arms that will "feel, look and perform" like a real arm guided by the central nervous system.
2. According to [20, 21], Bio-Revolution is one of the eight strategic research thrusts that DARPA is emphasizing in response to emerging trends and national security. In particular, the Human Assisted Neural Devices program under Bio-Revolution will have "immediate benefit to injured veterans, who would be able to control prosthetics." A related area of interest in Bio-Revolution is Cell and Tissue Engineering.
3. Next, according to Defense Science Office (DFO) of DARPA [22], emerging technologies for combat casualties care with dual usage for both military and civilian medical care, focus on programs in Revolutionizing Prosthetics, Human Assisted Neural Devices, Biologically Inspired Multi-functional Dynamic Robotics, and so on. In particular, according to [23], "today on of the most devastating battlefield injuries is loss of a limb. at DARPA, the vision of a future is to . regain full use of that limb again."

According to an article that appeared in IEEE Spectrum issue of June 2014, "Fifty years out, I think we will have largely eliminated disability"-Eliza Strickland [24]. The robotic hand, in addition to using it for prosthetic applications, is highly useful for performing various operations that a real human hand cannot perform without reaching a fatigue stage and especially for handling of hazardous waste materials and conditions.

Finally, an IEEE video on overview of how engineers are solutionists, poses "What if prosthetics were stronger and more accurate than the human body?" [25]

1.2 Control Strategies

1.2.1 Prosthetic/Robotic Hands

Artificial hands have been around for several years and have been developed by various researchers in the eld and some of the prosthetic/robotic devices developed are given below (in chronological order) [2, 26].

1. Russian arm - [27-29]
2. Waseda hand - [30]
3. Boston arm 2 - [31]
4. UNB hand (University of New Brunswick) - [32-34]
5. Hanafusa hand - [35]
6. Crossley hand - [36]
7. Okada hand - [37]
8. Utah/MIT hand (University of Utah/Massachusetts Institute of Technology) - [38-40]
9. JPL/Stanford hand (Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Stanford University) - [41, 42]
10. Minnesota hand - [43]
11. Manus hand - [44, 45]
12. Kobayashi hand - [46]
13. Rovetta hand - [47]
14. UT/RAL hand - [48]
15. Dextrous gripper - [49]
16. Belgrade/USC hand (University of Belgrade/University of Southern California) - [50]
17. Southampton hand (University of Southampton, Southampton, UK) - [51]
18. MARCUS hand (Manipulation And Reaction Control under User Supervision) - [52]
19. Kobe hand (Kobe University, Japan) - [53]
20. Robonaut hand (NASA Johnson Space Center) - [54]
21. NTU hand (National Taiwan University) - [55]
22. Hokkaido hand - [56]
23. DLR hand (Deutschen Zentrums für Luft- und Raumfahrt-German Aerospace Center) - [57, 58]
24. TUAT/Karlsruhe hand (Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology/University of Karlsruhe) - [59]
25. BUAA hand (Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics) - [60]
26. TBM hand (Toronto/Bloorview MacMillan) - [61]
27. ULRG System (University of Louisiana Robotic Gripper) - [62]
28. Oxford hand - [44]
29. IOWA hand (University of Iowa) - [63]
30. MA-I hand - [64]
31. RCH-1 (ROBO CASA hand 1 3) - [65]
32. UB hand (University of Bologna) - [66]
33. Ottobock SUVA hand - (www.ottobock.co.uk)
34. Northwestern University system - [67]
35. SKKU Hand II (Sungkyunkwan University, Korea) - [68]
36. Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) - [23, 69, 70]

and some of the commercial web sites for prosthetic/robotic devices are

1. Sensor HandT Speed from Ottobock (www.ottobock.co.uk),
2. VASI (Variety Ability Systems Inc.), a company of the Otto Bock Group (http://www.vasi.on.ca/index.html),
3. Utah Arm from Motion Control (www.utaharm.com),
4. The i-LIMB Hand from Touch Bionics (www.touchbionics.com), and so on.

A very useful comparison table between several hands listed above and human hand, adapted from [2, 26], is updated and shown in Table 1.1.

Table 1.1 Comparison of Human Hand with Artificial Hands: Robotic and Prosthetic/Robotic Hands: Force Indicates Power Grasp Speed Indicates the Time Required for a Full Closing and Opening; E: Stands for External; I: Stands for Internal