Development and Evaluation of An Adaptive Gripper with Soft Sheets

Abstract

This study presents the mechanism of an adaptive gripper for grasping various objects. The gripper has soft sheets and passive joints. Two joints of each finger are controlled by only a single actuator with a simple control method. The numerical model of the soft sheet that is used in the gripper is proposed to estimate the grasping force. Experimental tests are performed to investigate the performance of the gripper. It is confirmed that the gripper grasps deformable objects softly and heavy objects firmly with the center of the soft sheet that possess low stiffness. It is also confirmed that the gripper grasps small objects by using fingertips that possess high stiffness.