Design of an Integrated Gripper with a Suction System for Grasping in Cluttered Environment

Abstract

Development of an integrated gripping system for grasping various objects in different work environments is very useful in many practical applications, such as warehouse automation. In this paper, we propose a linkage-driven underactuated gripper combined with a suction mechanism. This underactuated gripper has two fingers which can be controlled independently and each finger is constructed by stacking one five-bar mechanism over one double parallelogram. The special architecture allows for installing all of the actuators on the base. The suction mechanism is used to grasp objects in narrow space and enhance the grasp stability. The ability of grasping various objects is confirmed through practical grasping experiment on a commercial robot arm.