Design and development of a soft robotic gripper for manipulation in minimally invasive surgery: a proof of concept

Abstract

This paper proposes the use of soft materials for building robotic grippers for delicate and safe interactions. The work includes concept design, fabrication and first assessment and characterization of the proposed soft gripper, a novel robotic end-effector entirely made up of elastomeric material. As a significant case study, it has been specifically adapted as a grasping tool in Minimally Invasive Surgery, but its design has been conceived in such a way that its dimension can be easily scaled, to find application in all those fields where a safe interaction with fragile items or human co-workers is needed. Moreover, the process is flexible for including further features to enrich its behaviour.