A Synchronous Variable-Stroke Mechanism for Workspace Enhancement of a Four-Finger Soft Robotic Hand.

Area of Science:

• Robotics
• Mechanical Engineering
• Materials Science

Background:

• Existing soft robotic hands have limited adaptability due to fixed finger layouts.
• Handling geometrically diverse and fragile objects remains a challenge for current soft robotic grippers.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a four-finger pneumatic soft robotic hand with a synchronous variable-stroke base mechanism.
• To enhance the grasping adaptability and stability of soft robotic hands for varying object sizes.

Main Methods:

• Designed a soft robotic hand combining a rigid reconfigurable base with compliant soft fingers.
• Developed a system-level kinematic model to analyze hand workspace.
• Conducted comparative grasping experiments with fixed-stroke and variable-stroke configurations.

Main Results:

• The variable-stroke mechanism enabled stable geometric reconfiguration of finger positions.
• The proposed hand demonstrated improved grasping performance and stability, especially when initial finger spacing matched object size.
• The variable-stroke configuration offered a wider usable grasping range compared to fixed-stroke designs.

Conclusions:

• Geometric reconfiguration at the hand level effectively enhances the adaptability of multi-finger soft robotic hands.
• The synchronous variable-stroke base mechanism is a viable solution for improving soft robotic gripper performance.
• This design advancement contributes to more versatile soft robotic manipulation capabilities.