Universal Vacuum Gripper with Tactile Function and Application to Underwater Robots

Abstract

This study proposes a flexible and submersible tactile function based on conductive powder and radon conversion. It consists of a conductive powder, an elastic membrane bag containing an insulating liquid, and electrodes. The tactile function uses the change in volume resistivity of the conductive powder, which changes with load. Thus, it is achieved by measuring the impedance of the conductive powder between all pairs of eight electrodes. Since the conductive powder serves as the wiring, it allows large deformations and does not break. Furthermore, our approach is very compact. We incorporated this approach into a universal vacuum gripper to obtain pressure distribution. We will ultimately plan to develop a high-resolution pressure sensor that can be measured underwater.