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Rod-based Fabrication of Customizable Soft Robotic Pneumatic Gripper Devices for Delicate Tissue Manipulation
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Design of a Variable Stiffness Soft Dexterous Gripper.

Loai A T Al Abeach1, Samia Nefti-Meziani2, Steve Davis2

  • 1Department of Computer Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Basrah, Basrah, Iraq.

Soft Robotics
|October 25, 2017
PubMed
Summary

This study introduces a soft robotic gripper with adjustable stiffness using antagonistic McKibben muscles. The novel design allows for over 150% increase in finger stiffness, enabling precise control for various applications.

Keywords:
actuatorsend effectorgrippersoft roboticsvariable stiffness

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Area of Science:

  • Robotics
  • Soft Robotics
  • Mechanical Engineering

Background:

  • Dexterous grippers are essential in robotics for manipulation tasks.
  • Existing soft grippers often lack variable stiffness capabilities, limiting their adaptability.
  • Pneumatic artificial muscles offer compliant actuation but controlling stiffness remains a challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To design and demonstrate a soft, three-fingered dexterous gripper with variable stiffness.
  • To investigate the use of antagonistic McKibben muscles for stiffness modulation.
  • To validate the gripper's ability for closed-loop position control.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized two types of McKibben muscles: extensor muscles for finger structure and contractor muscles for actuation via tendons.
  • Arranged muscles antagonistically to enable stiffness adjustment without altering finger position.
  • Developed basic kinematic models to describe gripper function.
  • Conducted experiments to measure changes in finger bending stiffness and assess position control.

Main Results:

  • Successfully designed a soft, three-fingered dexterous gripper.
  • Demonstrated a method to increase the bending stiffness of the gripper's fingers by over 150%.
  • Achieved closed-loop position control of the fingers, enabling tracking of step and sinusoidal inputs.

Conclusions:

  • The antagonistic McKibben muscle configuration effectively enables variable stiffness in a soft robotic gripper.
  • The developed gripper exhibits enhanced adaptability and precise control capabilities.
  • This design offers a promising solution for applications requiring compliant yet stiff manipulation.