BarrettHand^TM

Models:

BH8-262	BH8-280

The BH8-series BarrettHand™ is a multi-fingered programmable grasper with the dexterity to secure target objects of different sizes, shapes, and orientations. Even with its low weight (1.18kg) and compact form, it is totally self-contained. Communicating by industry-standard serial communications, integration with any arm is fast and simple. The BH8-series immediately multiplies the value of any arm requiring flexible automation.

BarrettHand™ BH8-series neatly houses a CPU, software, communications electronics, servo-controllers, and all 4 brushless motors. Of its three multi-jointed fingers, two have an extra degree of freedom with 180 degrees of synchronous lateral mobility supporting a large variety of grasp types.

Why Buy a BarrettHand™ when Parallel-Jaw Grippers are so Cheap? Grippers have two major limitations:

1) Each gripper must be custom designed. Grippers require specialists to design, fabricate, and debug specially-shaped finger surfaces for each part shape and for each unique part orientation.

2) Unless the host arm will perpetually perform the same task, it needs an infinitely variable supply of grippers and the ability to switch between them instantly as the part shapes and orientations change. A robot arm exchanges grippers with either a turret or a tool changer. A turret is limited to switching between 2 or 3 grippers. A tool changer can handle a large number of grippers, but at the enormous costs of wasted space from storage fixtures and badly reduced cycle times.

Combined with its versatile software routines, a single BarrettHand™ BH8-series matches the functionality of an entire bank of custom grippers – yet, has the ability to switch functions on-the-fly electronically. The BarrettHand™ integrates with your application and replaces many custom grippers with a single smart grasper.

The BarrettHand™ BH8-series communicates with any PC through its serial port. It is shipped as a complete turn-key system.

BarrettHand™ Software Barrett Technology's BHControl User Interface, C-Function Library, and firmware provide comprehensive ways of controlling the BH8-series Grasper.

The !BHControl Interface is a Windows application providing an easy-to-use graphical user interface (GUI) for control of the BarrettHand™. It was developed using Barrett's C-Function Library for easy communication with the hand. The BHControl Interface exposes all of the functionality provided by the C-Function Library, firmware, and BarrettHand™ in a graphical environment, without writing any code.

The visual control window of the BHControl application enables control of the hand interactively. The user is capable moving the fingers of the BarrettHand™ in any desired position with a mouse or tracking the mouse position in real-time.

The BarrettHand™ C-Function Library provides the user program an easy method for controlling the hand. The Library coordinates all serial communications with the hand and provides functions to control the hand. The functions take advantage of the firmware's new RealTime mode and introduce several new Supervisory commands. The Library is written for Windows and is backward compatible with code written for earlier versions of the Library.

The BarrettHand™'s firmware resides on the control electronics inside the hand. The firmware interprets the commands sent from the host computer and responds accordingly. The firmware has two modes: Supervisory and RealTime. The Supervisory mode allows the user to issue high-level commands, which the BarrettHand™ will execute. When the hand is finished executing the command, it returns control back to the user. The RealTime mode enables continuous control and monitoring of motor parameters, allowing real-time motion control.

Major Differences between the BH8-262 and BH8-280

	BH8-262	BH8-280
24 Volt Power Supply	√	X
48 Volt Power Supply	X	√
Puck	X	√
Serial Capability	√	√
CAN Bus Capability	X	√
Tactile Sensing	X	√
Strain Gauges	√	√
Shorter Base	X	√