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Versatile Soft Robot Gripper Enabled by Stiffness and Adhesion Tuning via Thermoplastic Composite
Ryan Coulson1, Christopher J Stabile2, Kevin T Turner2
1Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
Soft Robotics
|January 22, 2021
Summary
This study introduces a novel robotic gripper that tunes its stiffness. This innovation significantly enhances adhesion strength, enabling delicate yet firm grasping of diverse objects.
Area of Science:
- Robotics
- Materials Science
- Adhesion Science
Background:
- Stiffness tuning in robotic grippers is crucial for handling fragile or heavy objects.
- Existing grippers often face limitations in adapting stiffness for optimal grasping and adhesion.
Purpose of the Study:
- To present a novel gripper with tunable stiffness and adhesion capabilities.
- To leverage thermally induced phase change for gripper actuation.
Main Methods:
- Development of a gripper utilizing a thermoplastic composite within a silicone pad.
- Employing a heating and cooling cycle to transition the gripper pad between soft and stiff states.
- Conducting pull-off tests and finite element modeling to analyze performance.
Main Results:
- The gripper demonstrates up to a 6x increase in adhesion strength by transitioning from soft to stiff states.
- Finite element models successfully simulated gripper behavior.
- Pick-and-place demonstrations confirmed the gripper's versatility with various objects.
Conclusions:
- The novel stiffness and adhesion tuning gripper offers enhanced performance for robotic grasping.
- Thermally induced phase change is an effective mechanism for adaptive robotic grippers.
- The developed gripper shows promise for applications requiring delicate handling and strong adhesion.
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