Source-Free Bistable Fluidic Gripper for Size-Selective and Stiffness-Adaptive Grasping
🤖 AI Summary
Traditional soft grippers rely on external fluid sources, limiting portability and long-term autonomy. This work introduces a self-contained, energy-autonomous soft gripper that achieves actuation via liquid redistribution among three interconnected bistable inversion chambers. Upon object contact, deformation of the top sensing chamber triggers rapid inversion of the gripping chambers, enabling size-selective grasping; concurrently, the gripper passively modulates grip force according to object stiffness. We present the first bistable fluidic actuation architecture requiring no sustained energy input, uniquely integrating tactile sensing and actuation without external pumps, valves, or real-time control. Experimental results demonstrate robust, low-power grasping across diverse object sizes and stiffnesses. The gripper is validated for underwater and field-deployable lightweight, long-duration autonomous sampling tasks.
Application Category
📝 Abstract
Conventional fluid-driven soft grippers typically depend on external sources, which limit portability and long-term autonomy. This work introduces a self-contained soft gripper with fixed size that operates solely through internal liquid redistribution among three interconnected bistable snap-through chambers. When the top sensing chamber deforms upon contact, the displaced liquid triggers snap-through expansion of the grasping chambers, enabling stable and size-selective grasping without continuous energy input. The internal hydraulic feedback further allows passive adaptation of gripping pressure to object stiffness. This source-free and compact design opens new possibilities for lightweight, stiffness-adaptive fluid-driven manipulation in soft robotics, providing a feasible approach for targeted size-specific sampling and operation in underwater and field environments.
Problem
Research questions and friction points this paper is trying to address.
Eliminates external power dependency for portable soft grippers
Enables size-selective grasping through internal fluid redistribution
Achieves passive stiffness adaptation via hydraulic feedback mechanism
Innovation
Methods, ideas, or system contributions that make the work stand out.
Self-contained gripper using internal liquid redistribution
Snap-through chambers enable size-selective grasping
Hydraulic feedback provides passive stiffness adaptation
🔎 Similar Papers
No similar papers found.
