Abstract
Maestro is a compact, high-precision hand exoskeleton designed as an intuitive manipulation interface for remote teleoperation. Built around a lightweight Series Elastic Actuator (SEA) architecture, Maestro delivers safe, compliant, and accurate joint-to-joint torque rendering, enabling realistic force feedback during dexterous tasks. The system features a three-finger configuration—thumb, index, and middle finger—with four active degrees of freedom on the thumb and two on both the index and middle fingers, supporting fine manipulation while maintaining ergonomic wearability.
Figure.1 Maestro Hand Exoskeleton for Dexterous Teleoperation.
The Maestro system is a three-finger (thumb–index–middle) hand exoskeleton designed as a bidirectional manipulation interface for remote teleoperation. The hardware integrates Maxon DC motor modules for high-fidelity haptic control, Bowden cable transmission for remote actuation, and Series Elastic Actuators (SEA) to ensure compliant, safe, and accurate torque rendering. The mechanical architecture enables joint-to-joint force feedback while maintaining lightweight wearability. A calibrated forward kinematic model maps exoskeleton joint space to human finger joint space, enabling precise pose reconstruction prior to retargeting to a robotic hand (e.g., PLATO). The overall system forms a closed-loop telemanipulation framework, combining forward motion retargeting and backward haptic rendering for contact-aware dexterous interaction.
Teleoperation Framework
In telemanipulation tasks, Maestro serves as the primary control interface for the PLATO robotic hand within a bidirectional human–robot interaction framework. The forward loop begins with a (i) pre-step calibration procedure, (ii) forward kinematics that map exoskeleton joint space to human finger joint space (iii) the retargeting phase maps the human hand pose to the PLATO hand or virtual hand in simulation environments.
The backward loop implements haptic rendering: The contact signal is from tactile sensors embedded in the PLATO hand. (i) In the absence of contact, the exoskeleton operates in a transparent mode to minimize impedance and maintain natural motion. (ii) Upon contact detection, distinct haptic rendering modes are activated to convey interaction cues—such as contact onset, stiffness, or constraint—thereby enabling closed-loop, task-aware telemanipulation.
Figure.2 Bidirectional Teleoperation Framework including Forward Motion Command to PLATO and Backward Haptic Force Rendering to Human Operator.
Appendix: Hand Motion Calibration
Calibration of a hand exoskeleton is the process of aligning the device’s sensing and kinematic model with the actual anatomy and motion of an individual user. Because hand sizes, joint locations, and how the device fits vary from person to person, raw sensor readings often do not reflect true finger movements.
For more details of the calibration method, please visit Human Data-Driven Calibration of Hand Exoskeletons Using Redundant Sensors for Improved Teleoperation.