  This paper introduces the i-HY Hand, an underactuated hand driven by 5
actuators that is capable of performing a wide range of grasping and in-hand
manipulation tasks. This hand was designed to address the need for a durable,
inexpensive, moderately dexterous hand suitable for use on mobile robots. The
primary focus of this paper will be on the novel minimalistic design of i-HY,
which was developed by choosing a set of target tasks around which the design
of the hand was optimized. Particular emphasis is placed on the development of
underactuated fingers that are capable of both firm power grasps and low-
stiffness fingertip grasps using only the passive mechanics of the finger
mechanism. Experimental results demonstrate successful grasping of a wide range
of target objects, the stability of fingertip grasping, as well as the ability
to adjust the force exerted on grasped objects using the passive finger
mechanics.
