A Single-Actuator Four-Finger Adaptive Gripper for Robotic Assembly

Abstract

Efficiently grasping and releasing objects using robotic grippers is an essential step in robotic assembly. This paper presents a low-cost four-finger adaptive gripper capable of performing stable and reliable grasping operations on irregularly shaped objects. Unlike other grasping systems in the fixture-to-fixture robotic assembly, the assembly process using the proposed gripper does not rely on any vision systems or force/torque sensors. Specifically, assuming that the relative position Λ between the two fixtures is known, such assembly tasks can be accomplished simply by performing a predefined motion of a robot arm only related to Λ. This is mainly because the developed gripper not only adapts to the shape and size of the grasped object, but also keeps its position and pose relative to the gripper unchanged throughout the grasping process. A novel underactuated grasping mechanism with two serially connected differential mechanisms is proposed to perform adaptive and stable fingertip grasps with multiple contact points. The kinematics and statics of the gripper-object system are derived for the analysis and design of the gripper. The proposed gripper is fabricated, and a grasping system is built using a commercial robot arm (UR5) to verify its capability for adaptive grasps and assembly of some flat objects. Experimental results show that it is effective to grasp objects with uncertain size/shape and position, control the grasping force, and accomplish the fixture-to-fixture assembly.