Design and manufacturing process of pneumatic soft gripper for additive manufacturing

The soft gripper, constructed from elastic materials, serves as a crucial automated device component, aiming to minimize object damage. The central focus of utilizing soft grippers lies in their shape design, enabling effective handling of objects with low rigidity and diverse forms. This study delves into shape design research, employing a pneumatic pressure-responsive, tube-like soft gripper fabricated through injection molding. During the design phase, a comprehensive survey of soft gripper research trends was conducted, leading to two distinct configurations: Type1, drawing from established shapes, and Type2, a novel design ensuring bending angle stability. The primary dimensions of Soft Gripper Type 1 and Type 2 are as follows: lengths of 78.11 mm and 74.96 mm, heights of 18.69 mm and 20.0 mm, respectively, with a uniform thickness of 0.6 mm. The prediction of bending angles was accomplished through employment of the Abaqus finite element analysis program. In both simulation and experimentation, pneumatic pressures of 100, 200, and 300 kPa were applied to compare the bending angles of two types of soft grippers. While conventional injection molding remains a prevalent manufacturing technique, it confronts challenges like demolding and undercuts. Thus, for intricate shapes and monolithic soft grippers, layer-by-layer additive manufacturing emerges as a superior choice over injection molding. The implementation of this approach holds the potential for streamlined soft gripper design processes, potentially yielding reductions in both time and cost. The significance of these findings lies in advancing the capabilities of soft grippers, propelling them toward efficient and cost-effective applications in various fields.