Development of the sensorized hybrid gripper for the proprioceptive grasping

Abstract

Various soft grippers using soft pneumatic actuator (SPA) have been developed for roboticmanipulators owing to the inherent compliance, and a simple morphological structure. However, it is important for the grasping capability to enhance the ability of SPA, as well as the sensorization for the feedback actuation. In this study, we developed a sensorized hybrid gripper that incorporates both soft and rigid components to improve the fingertip force and actuation speed simultaneously based on three design principles: 1) bendingmotion is proportional to the ratio of the rigid structure; 2) a concave soft chamber design is preferred; and 3) a round shape between soft and rigid materials increases the fingertip force. The proprioceptive feedback was applied through the embedded bending sensors. The fingertip force and the actuation speed was verified experimentally and the proprioceptive information was evaluated.