Vacuum Gripper Imitating Funnel Shape and Micro Grooves of Octopus Suction Cup

Abstract

An octopus suction cup has the characteristic structures, for example a narrow part on sidewall and cone-shaped bottom with radial and cylindrical trenches. These structures will have the function of enhancing flexibility of suction cup. In this paper, we evaluated the effect of three structures imitating octopus suction cup on gripping performance by Finite Element Method (FEM) simulation and the fabricated 8 types of gripper. The narrow part on sidewall and cone-shaped bottom enhanced the followability to a shape. On the other hand, the radial trenches on bottom reduced the ability. The gripper with these structure generated same or higher adhesive force than one without structures.