A systematic review of developments in gripper technologies for rigid fabric parts

This paper presents an inquiry of scholarly literature published in the last decade pertaining to the development of robot grippers for compressed fabric parts, which are both rigid and porous. The study is narrow and targeted. Previous literature reviews investigating technologies suitable for materials with similar properties were analysed, and the need for recent works addressing stiff and simultaneously permeable materials was identified. This work aspires to fill that gap with a systematic approach, for which the PRISMA reporting methodology is adopted. It entails scouting for publications with defined keywords, filtering based on predetermined constraints, and thoroughly examining the articles obtained from scientific databases. The study reveals that vacuum grippers are quite prevalent despite the inherent porosity of fibrous materials. The use of the Bernoulli and Coanda effects, and unconventional technologies like electro-adhesion are also gaining popularity. Intrusive instruments like needles are utilised regardless of their tendency to do surface damage. Moreover, hybrid grasping contraptions can be devised to overcome the limitations of their individual constituents. The operational efficiency of grippers can be further boosted with predictive modelling and sensors to execute a closed-loop system. Overall, the study conveys the latest advancements in multiple mechanisms available at designers' disposal, which can be implemented and optimised for the specific type of material, and its main technical contribution is in a specific gap in the literature by focusing on gripper technologies for handling rigid and porous fabric parts, which are commonly used in the automotive industry for acoustic applications.