空気圧式ゴムバンド型グリッパ

―対象物への巻き付き特性の評価とロボットアームへの取り付け―

抄録

A vacuum-driven rubber-band gripper is a ring-shaped gripper that wraps around an object by decreasing its internal air pressure. We analyzed the condition wherein the gripper wraps around an object without creating wrinkles. We also evaluated the wrapping performance of the gripper, using objects of different sizes and shapes. The experimental results show that the gripper can wrap around objects, for a wide range of sizes and shapes. We also developed a gripper-fixing device for a robot arm using the concept of variable stiffness by particle jamming. The fixing device enables the gripper to handle objects without swaying.