A Pneumatically Driven, Disposable, Soft Robotic Gripper Equipped with Retractable, Telescopic Fingers

Abstract

Robots use their end-effectors to grasp and manipulate objects in unstructured and dynamic environments. Robot hands and grippers can vary from rigid and complex designs to soft, inflatable, and lightweight structures. In this paper, we focus on the development of a soft, retractable, telescopic gripper that exhibits an adaptive behaviour that allows efficient and stable grasps with a wide range of objects. The efficiency of the proposed device is experimentally validated through three different types of experiments: i) grasping experiments that involve different everyday objects, ii) force exertion experiments that capture the maximum forces that can be exerted by the proposed device, and iii) grasp resistance experiments that focus on the effect of the inflatable structure on resisting environmental uncertainties and disturbances. The proposed gripper is able to grasp a plethora of everyday life objects and it can exert more than 8 N of grasping force. The design is so low-cost that the soft fingers can be used in a disposable manner, facilitating the execution of specialized tasks (e.g., grasping in sterilized environments, handling of medical waste, etc).