Membrane-less Universal Vacuum Gripper based on Micro-Magnetic Powder

Abstract

Currently, with the increasing number of aging social infrastructure structures, manual inspection is required. However, these inspections have various problems such as cost, safety, and required time. Therefore, in previous research, a wall-climbing robot using UVG was developed, and unmanned inspection work was performed. The UVG is a vacuum adhesive gripper composed of a film and a powder. However, it has a problem that the film breaks when it tries to adhere to a sharp object, resulting in malfunction. In this study, we aim to develop a vacuum adhesive gripper without a film using micro-magnetic powder.