Delicate Object Grasping by Robotic Hands with Incompressible Fluid Fingers

Abstract

This paper presents novel schema for grasping very brittle objects. For the purpose, we develop robotic hand equipped with fingers filled with incompressible fluid; gel. The features of the fingers are uniform contact pressure distribution and controllability of the pressure. It is useful for controlling contact pressure such that it does not over fracture stress. The two fingers are attached on every contact area of the robotic hand, which realizes stable grasp from the viewpoint of passive form closure. We also present grasping strategies for grasping brittle and ductile objects, respectively, and their validities are shown by experiments.