Employing Pneumatic, Telescopic Actuators for the Development of Soft and Hybrid Robotic Grippers

Abstract

Traditionally, the robotic end-effectors that are employed in unstructured and dynamic environments are rigid and their operation requires sophisticated sensing elements and complicated control algorithms in order to handle and manipulate delicate and fragile objects. Over the last decade, considerable research effort has been put into the development of adaptive, under-actuated, soft robots that facilitate robust interactions with dynamic environments. In this paper, we present soft, retractable, pneumatically actuated, telescopic actuators that facilitate the efficient execution of stable grasps involving a plethora of everyday life objects. The efficiency of the proposed actuators is validated by employing them in two different soft and hybrid robotic grippers. The hybrid gripper uses three rigid fingers to accomplish the execution of all the tasks required by a traditional robotic gripper, while three inflatable, telescopic fingers provide soft interaction with objects. This synergistic combination of soft and rigid structures allows the gripper to cage/trap and firmly hold heavy and irregular objects. The second, simplistic and highly affordable robotic gripper employs just the telescopic actuators, exhibiting an adaptive behavior during the execution of stable grasps of fragile and delicate objects. The experiments demonstrate that both grippers can successfully and stably grasp a wide range of objects, being able to exert significantly high contact forces.

Anti-freezing, conductive and shape memory ionic glycerol-hydrogels with synchronous sensing and actuating properties for soft robotics

“…The sensors can perceive external stimuli and transmit electrical information such as the stress distribution of the actuator, ambient temperature, ambient humidity, etc. 12,13 Smart actuators, as a motor-less component, can convert external electrical energy, thermal energy, and chemical energy into kinetic energy to perform programmable shape transformation. 14 Therefore, the development of advanced sensors and smart actuators to achieve imperceptible sensing and programmable shape transformation is indispensable for so robotics.…”

A Scooping-Binding Robotic Gripper for Handling Various Food Products

“…Soft grippers integrated novel adhesive interfaces with soft structures were investigated to enhance grasping capability ( Song et al, 2017 ; Hao et al, 2020 ). Gerez et al developed a soft and a hybrid grippers based on the soft, retractable, pneumatically actuated, telescopic actuators for handlinig fragile, delicate, heavy, and irregular objects ( Gerez et al, 2020 ). Moreover, embedded soft sensing was also investigated to provide feedback during contact between soft gripper and objects ( Wang and Hirai, 2016 ; Zhao et al, 2016 ; Truby et al, 2018 ).…”