Active soft end effectors for efficient grasping and safe handling

Al-Ibadi, A; Nefti-Meziani, S; Davis, ST

Abstract

The end effector is a major part of a robot system and it defines the task the robot can perform. However, typically, a gripper is suited to grasping only a single or relatively small number of different objects. Dexterous grippers offer greater grasping ability but they are often very expensive, difficult to control and are insufficiently robust for industrial operation. This paper explores the principles of soft robotics and the design of low-cost grippers able to grasp a broad range of objects without the need for complex control schemes. Two different soft end effectors have been designed and built and their physical structure, characteristics and operational performances have been analysed. The soft grippers deform and conform to the object being grasped, meaning they are simple to control and minimal grasp planning is required. The soft nature of the grippers also makes them better suited to handling fragile and delicate objects than a traditional rigid gripper.

Citation

Al-Ibadi, A., Nefti-Meziani, S., & Davis, S. (2018). Active soft end effectors for efficient grasping and safe handling. IEEE Access, 6, 23591-23601. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2018.2829351

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 18, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Apr 23, 2018
• Publication Date: Apr 23, 2018
• Deposit Date: Apr 20, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 20, 2018
• Journal: IEEE Access
• Publisher: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• Volume: 6
• Pages: 23591-23601
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2018.2829351
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2018.2829351
• Related Public URLs: http://ieeeaccess.ieee.org/
• Additional Information: Access Information : © 2018 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.