Roger Robot Hand

Revision History

Revision	Date (DD/MM/YYYY)	Author	Changes
1	06/10/2022	Hans	Initial release

1. Overview

The Roger robot hand is designed as a end-effector for collaborative robots. It has the following feature:

• Grasping and holding of items

• Hand-like monitoring

• User interface: ROS1, Linux Application

2. Specifications

2.1 General

Physical Specifications
Number of Fingers	5
Degree of Freedom	6
Weight	0.3kg
Strong Grip Mode Payload	2kg
Precise Grip Mode Payload	0.2kg
Angular Motion Range	85degs
Grasping Response Times	< 1.5secs
Motion Noise	< 60dB
Operating Temperature	< 80degs celsius

2.2 In the box

Item	Amount
Roger Hand	1
Base Plate	2
Power Supply	1
Control Box	1
Aviator CX12-5pin female-female cable	1
USB A male-male cable	1

2.3 Control Box

Port	Protocol	Function
USB A port	USB	Communication interface
Ethernet port	/	Future extension

3. Hardware Setup

3.1 Startup and Operation

3.1.1 Connection

1. Connect provided aviator cable to hand and control box.

2. Connect provided power supply to control box and power outlet.

3. Connect provided USB cable to control and host computer.

4. Switch on the power supply.

3.1.2 Computer

• On Ubuntu

  • Device will show up as a /dev/ttyUSBx device.

• On Windows

  • Device will show up as a COMx port device.

  • You may need to install the CP210x driver first, available at: https://www.silabs.com/developers/usb-to-uart-bridge-vcp-drivers?tab=downloads

4. Software Setup

There are 2 ways to interface with the hand out-of-the-box.

1. ROS1 Driver

2. Linux Application

4.1 ROS1 Driver

4.1.1 Setting up

The ROS1 driver can be found here: https://github.com/westonrobot/roger_hand_ros

Follow the README on the github repo to setup the hand for communication with computer.

4.1.2 Running

$ roslaunch roger_hand_bringup roger_hand_server.launch

• Parameters

Parameter	Description	Default
port_name	port to the control box	“/dev/ttyUSB0”

• Published Topics

Topics	Message Format	Description
~/hand_state	roger_hand_msgs::hand_state	State of the hand

• Services

Name	Message Format	Description
~/set_finger_pose	roger_hand_msgs::finger_pose	Set pose of one finger
~/set_hand_pose	roger_hand_msgs::hand_pose	Set pose of entire hand
~/clear_hand_error	roger_hand_msgs::clear_error	Clear any errors raised
~/set_ampere_feedback	roger_hand_msgs::ampere_feedback	Enable current feedback
~/set_hand_enable	roger_hand_msgs::hand_enable	(Dis/En)able hand operation

• Finger IDs

Index	Joint
1	Thumb
2	Thumb (rotation)
3	Index
4	Middle
5	Ring
6	Little

4.2 Linux Application

4.2.1 Download

• To use the application, please ensure you have the following items

  • Computer running Ubuntu 18.04/20.04

    • Ubuntu 18.04 (bionic)

    • Ubuntu 20.04 (focal)

4.2.2 Running

$ ./roger_hand_control