Employing Pneumatic, Telescopic Actuators for the Development of Soft and Hybrid Robotic Grippers
Traditionally, the robotic end-effectors that are employed in unstructured and dynamic environments are rigid and their operation requires sophisticated sensing elements and complicated control algorithms in order to handle and manipulate delicate and fragile objects. Over the last decade, considera...
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doaj-879d5befa5664ba89be22ae70e485b042020-11-25T04:02:36ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Robotics and AI2296-91442020-11-01710.3389/frobt.2020.601274601274Employing Pneumatic, Telescopic Actuators for the Development of Soft and Hybrid Robotic GrippersLucas GerezChe-Ming ChangMinas LiarokapisTraditionally, the robotic end-effectors that are employed in unstructured and dynamic environments are rigid and their operation requires sophisticated sensing elements and complicated control algorithms in order to handle and manipulate delicate and fragile objects. Over the last decade, considerable research effort has been put into the development of adaptive, under-actuated, soft robots that facilitate robust interactions with dynamic environments. In this paper, we present soft, retractable, pneumatically actuated, telescopic actuators that facilitate the efficient execution of stable grasps involving a plethora of everyday life objects. The efficiency of the proposed actuators is validated by employing them in two different soft and hybrid robotic grippers. The hybrid gripper uses three rigid fingers to accomplish the execution of all the tasks required by a traditional robotic gripper, while three inflatable, telescopic fingers provide soft interaction with objects. This synergistic combination of soft and rigid structures allows the gripper to cage/trap and firmly hold heavy and irregular objects. The second, simplistic and highly affordable robotic gripper employs just the telescopic actuators, exhibiting an adaptive behavior during the execution of stable grasps of fragile and delicate objects. The experiments demonstrate that both grippers can successfully and stably grasp a wide range of objects, being able to exert significantly high contact forces.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frobt.2020.601274/fullhybrid actuation mechanismpneumatic actuatorssoft roboticsgraspinggrippers and other end effectorsrobotics |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Lucas Gerez Che-Ming Chang Minas Liarokapis |
spellingShingle |
Lucas Gerez Che-Ming Chang Minas Liarokapis Employing Pneumatic, Telescopic Actuators for the Development of Soft and Hybrid Robotic Grippers Frontiers in Robotics and AI hybrid actuation mechanism pneumatic actuators soft robotics grasping grippers and other end effectors robotics |
author_facet |
Lucas Gerez Che-Ming Chang Minas Liarokapis |
author_sort |
Lucas Gerez |
title |
Employing Pneumatic, Telescopic Actuators for the Development of Soft and Hybrid Robotic Grippers |
title_short |
Employing Pneumatic, Telescopic Actuators for the Development of Soft and Hybrid Robotic Grippers |
title_full |
Employing Pneumatic, Telescopic Actuators for the Development of Soft and Hybrid Robotic Grippers |
title_fullStr |
Employing Pneumatic, Telescopic Actuators for the Development of Soft and Hybrid Robotic Grippers |
title_full_unstemmed |
Employing Pneumatic, Telescopic Actuators for the Development of Soft and Hybrid Robotic Grippers |
title_sort |
employing pneumatic, telescopic actuators for the development of soft and hybrid robotic grippers |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
series |
Frontiers in Robotics and AI |
issn |
2296-9144 |
publishDate |
2020-11-01 |
description |
Traditionally, the robotic end-effectors that are employed in unstructured and dynamic environments are rigid and their operation requires sophisticated sensing elements and complicated control algorithms in order to handle and manipulate delicate and fragile objects. Over the last decade, considerable research effort has been put into the development of adaptive, under-actuated, soft robots that facilitate robust interactions with dynamic environments. In this paper, we present soft, retractable, pneumatically actuated, telescopic actuators that facilitate the efficient execution of stable grasps involving a plethora of everyday life objects. The efficiency of the proposed actuators is validated by employing them in two different soft and hybrid robotic grippers. The hybrid gripper uses three rigid fingers to accomplish the execution of all the tasks required by a traditional robotic gripper, while three inflatable, telescopic fingers provide soft interaction with objects. This synergistic combination of soft and rigid structures allows the gripper to cage/trap and firmly hold heavy and irregular objects. The second, simplistic and highly affordable robotic gripper employs just the telescopic actuators, exhibiting an adaptive behavior during the execution of stable grasps of fragile and delicate objects. The experiments demonstrate that both grippers can successfully and stably grasp a wide range of objects, being able to exert significantly high contact forces. |
topic |
hybrid actuation mechanism pneumatic actuators soft robotics grasping grippers and other end effectors robotics |
url |
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frobt.2020.601274/full |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT lucasgerez employingpneumatictelescopicactuatorsforthedevelopmentofsoftandhybridroboticgrippers AT chemingchang employingpneumatictelescopicactuatorsforthedevelopmentofsoftandhybridroboticgrippers AT minasliarokapis employingpneumatictelescopicactuatorsforthedevelopmentofsoftandhybridroboticgrippers |
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