Design and Analysis of a High-load Pneumatic Soft Gripper

Pneumatic grippers are one of the most potential research directions in the field of soft robotics. However, due to the inherent characteristics of soft materials and the limitations of design and manufacturing techniques, pneumatic grippers generally have a low load capacity, which has become a difficult problem that must be solved in the application of pneumatic grippers in many fields. Based on fiber-reinforced soft actuator and its layout optimization method, a high-load pneumatic soft gripper is proposed. And the gripping structure is constructed by optimizing the winding layout of the pneumatic artificial muscle; the gripping is enabled by the contraction of the cavity with closed structure; the target can be gripped and released by inflating and deflating the pneumatic artificial muscle. It combines a high-force soft actuator with a closed structure, which fully exertes the advantages of the large shrinkage force of the fiber shell type pneumatic artificial muscle and the good stability of the soft framework with closed structure, and greatly improves the gripping force of pneumatic soft grippers. Experiments show that the proposed high-load pneumatic soft gripper can automatically adapt to objects with different shapes and in different materials. The load capacity can reach 30 kg, which is more than 40 times its own weight. In this work, the new ideas and methods for the development of high-load soft grippers are proposed, and the research results are expected to enter the practical application field from the laboratory. © 2020 Journal of Mechanical Engineering.