ANALYSIS OF FORCE DISTRIBUTION IN GRASPS USING AUGMENTATION

A new approach to the analysis of statically indeterminate restraint o f a rigid body with any arrangement of point contact is presented in t his paper. The paper associates the elasticity at restraint contacts w ith geometric compatibility of the contact points and constructs elast ic compatibility equations, which are complementary To the restraint e quations. The equations so obtained are then used to augment the restr aint equations and lead to an agumented Jacobian matrix. The new appro ach enables grasps to be analysed and synthesized in a constraint of c ombined elasticity and geometric compatibility, in addition to the for ce equilibrium condition. This gives a mathematical basis for the anal ysis of force distribution of the statically indeterminate restraint. Detailed reasoning and derivations are given followed by both planar a nd spatial examples.