After a brief reminder about previous work, this paper addresses the dynamic characterization of
fluid-filled soft pads for robotic hands.
The adopted pad specimens are constituted by a single hyper-elastic material having hardness similar to that of
the human thumb. The overall pad thickness is then divided into a continuous skin layer and an internal layer
having communicating voids which are hermetically sealed and filled with a viscous fluid. Despite a more
complicated design, it has been proven [1-3] that the pads present enhanced compliance and damping
properties, a lower thickness and a higher surface hardness when compared to previously published solutions.
In addition, a quasi-linear model, frequently used to describe the behavior of soft biological tissues can be
applied in order to predict and control the pad interaction with the environment during grasping and
manipulation tasks. In particular, the experimental tests necessary to evaluate the parameters which determine
the pad dynamic response are described and discussed in detail.