Session: 07-04-01 Design and Control of Robots, Mechanisms and Structures I

Paper Number: 69880

Start Time: Monday, 11:45 AM

69880 - Design and Development of a Novel Soft Gripper Manipulated by a Robotic Arm 

Grippers operated by robotic arms are utilized as pick and place robots in industrial applications, surgical robots in biomedical operations, and high-precision positioning robots in nanoscale. The articulation type of the gripper mainly depends on the application area and well-defined desired tasks to be followed. Since compliant links deflect more under the same loading compared to their rigid body counterparts, through the deflection of their flexible members, they serve as great candidates for the design and development of grippers required to grasp delicate objects. Compliant or soft links allow the grippers to contour complex profiles while providing adequate grasping force. Also advances in additive manufacturing have enabled manufacturing complex systems using new materials and paved the way to develop soft and single-piece mechanisms providing large deformation without yielding.

This study presents the design and development of a tendon-driven soft gripper manipulated by a 4 DOF robotic arm. The proposed robotic arm and the gripper explore the new areas focusing on increasing the grasping performance of the gripper as well as the workspace. The gripper is designed as a 3 finger and driven by tendons using two servo motors. The tension of the strings is adjusted using a pulley mechanism and a string. The opening and grasping of the soft gripper are accomplished by each motor. The wide opening allows the gripper to grasp wide objects. The parallel robotic arm motion is actuated by 4 motors. Each motor is mounted on a spherical shoulder plate while circular plates with angles axle extrusions are also attached to the motors. The axles are angled so that their axes of rotation converge to the center of the shoulder plate. The vertical and lateral motion of the robotic arm is controlled by the series linkages connected to the axles, thereby actuating the forearm of the mechanism. The robotic arm is 3D printed in polylactic acid (PLA) and the single piece designed soft gripper is 3D printed in thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU). The gripping force applied by the gripper is obtained using flexible sensors attached to the tip of the 3 fingers. The finite element analysis is performed in Ansys and the link lengths are optimized to trace the desired workspace. The mechanism is tested for its grasping and lifting of various objects showing promising superiorities in terms of its grasping capabilities mimicking the human hand. If the robotic arm is mounted on a moving platform, then it can serve as an assistive robot for the elderly.                                                                                                                                                             

Presenting Author: Bryce Cianciotto Kennesaw State University

Authors:

Bryce Cianciotto Kennesaw State University
Derek Price Kennesaw State University
Logan Spencer Kennesaw State University
Martin Garcia Kennesaw State University
Ayse Tekes Kennesaw State University