Investigation of Friction Coefficient of the Surfcae of Robotic Gripper

Abstract

Safe handling of products in production lines is an industrial application vastly needed for grippers. To ensure that, it is essential to determine the friction coefficient. In the present work, friction coefficient of the gripper surface is investigated. Rubber specimens of different hardness and roughness were tested as surface coating of the gripper. The tested rubber slid against the surface of polyester textiles. Experiments revealed that the friction coefficient decreased as the load increased. Increasing surface hardness of the rubber caused significant increase in friction coefficient. It was found that friction coefficient depends on the type of the textile specimens. Finally, friction coefficient significantly increases up to maximum then slightly decreases with increasing surface roughness. This observation recommends more investigations to select properly the rubber materials for coating gripper.