Dexterous Hand documentation¶
This is the starting point for the Shadow Dexterous Hand Documentation

Setting up the hand
Setting up a hand in simulation
Software description
- Installing the software on a new PC
- Why do we use a NUC?
- Repositories
- ROS MASTER and connecting additional computers
- Software description of the Hand
- Robot Operating System (ROS)
- Accessing Data from the Hand
- Graphical User Interface
- How to use it
- Command line interface
- Writing controllers
- Deeper settings
- How to control the hand - the robot commander
- Saving States
- Recording ROS Bags
- Copying data out of the dexterous hand container
- Hand autodetection (new in Noetic)
- Robot descriptions (URDF)
- Using Peripherals
FAQ & Changelog
Support & Teamviewer
Restore backup
Abbreviations¶
Abbreviation | Meaning |
---|---|
ADC | Analogue to Digital Converter. A chip which reads an analogue voltage signal. |
ASIC | Application Specific Integrated Circuit. |
CAN | Controller Area Network. A 1Mb peer-peer network for vehicles and robots. |
CPU | Central Processing Unit. A computer processor which runs software. |
CRC | Cyclic Redundancy Check. An algorithm (or output of) for checking the correctness of incoming data. |
DAC | Digital to Analogue Converter. A chip which produces an analogue voltage signal. |
EC | EtherCAT |
EEPROM | Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory. |
FPID | Feed-forward Proportional Integral Derivative controller. An algorithm used to control something on a robot. |
GUI | Graphical User Interface. |
I/O | Input / Output |
ICD3 | In Circuit Debugger 3. A tool used to change the firmware on a PIC microcontroller. |
IMU | Intertial Measurement Unit. Sensors used to measure acceleration and rotation. |
LED | Light Emitting Diode. A small coloured light. |
LVDS | Low Voltage Differential Signal. One of two possible electrical physical layers supported by EtherCAT. |
mA | milliamps. A unit of electrical current. |
MCU | Micro Controller Unit. A small, usually embedded, CPU. |
MIPS | No longer an abbreviation; a word in its own right. A brand of CPU / MCU. |
Nm | Newton Meters. A unit of torque. |
PC | Personal Computer. |
PCB | Printed Circuit Board. |
PID | Proportional Integral Derivative controller. An algorithm used to control something on a robot. |
PST | Pressure Sensor Tactile. A simple tactile sensor offered as standard. |
PWM | Pulse Width Modulation. Digital method used to emulate an analog signal. |
ROS | Robot Operating System, created by Willow Garage. |
SPI | Serial Peripheral Interface, allowing an MCU to communicate with an ADC. |