A physical-virtual based digital twin robotic hand

This work focuses on the development of a digital twin robotic hand system where a virtual robotic hand mimics the movements of a physical robotic hand. This mimicking capability of the virtual robotic hand can enable the operators to remotely monitor and identify the faults in the physical robotic hand under hazardous working conditions. The physical robotic hand consists of several joints in the fingers which are actuated using servo motors and flex sensors which measure the movements of the robotic hand. This robotic hand can exhibit human hand motion primitives like flexion, abduction, adduction etc. The virtual robotic hand model is a computer aided design (CAD) which is designed in the open source Blender \(^\circledR \) ${}^{\circledR }$ environment. The virtual robotic hand communicates through the micro-controller which receives data from the physical robotic hand. The data is processed to manipulate the movements of the virtual robotic hand. Experimental results are shown for the capabilities of the designed virtual hand related to the movements like flexion, abduction, adduction etc. Additional experiments illustrate the physical hand’s ability to replicate human hand motions, synchronized in real-time by the virtual robotic hand. The digital twin robotic hand research holds immense significance across various domains. In industry, it can revolutionize manufacturing processes by enabling real-time monitoring, fault detection, and optimization. In defense and space research, the digital twin robotic hand can advance the development of remotely operated robotic systems for tasks in hazardous environments, ensuring operational efficiency and personnel safety.