PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide robust operation of robot fingers.SOLUTION: A system includes a tendon-driven finger 14 and a control system 12. The system controls the finger via a force-based control law when a tension sensor is available, and via a position-based control law when a sensor is not available. Multiple tendons may each have a corresponding sensor and selectively injects a compliance value into the position-based control law. A control process is executed by the host machine to control the finger via the force- or position-based control law. A method for controlling the finger includes a step of determining the availability of the tension sensor, and a step of selectively controlling the finger, using the force or position-based control law. The position control law allows the control system to resist disturbances while nominally maintaining the initial state of internal tendon tensions.
ROBUST OPERATION OF TENDON-DRIVEN ROBOT FINGER USING FORCE AND POSITION-BASED CONTROL LAW