Everything-Grasping (EG) Gripper: A Universal Gripper with Synergistic Suction-Grasping Capabilities for Cross-Scale and Cross-State Manipulation

2025-10-06

AI Summary

Soft robotic manipulation has long struggled with achieving unified, reliable grasping across scales (sub-millimeter to tens of thousands of mm²) and states of matter (solid and liquid). This work introduces a universal soft gripper that eliminates the need for airtight sealing—achieved by innovatively integrating distributed surface suction with internal granular jamming within a single flexible structure. A tactile inference algorithm further enables autonomous object-state recognition (solid vs. liquid) via liquid detection and pressure feedback, triggering adaptive mode switching. Experiments demonstrate stable manipulation of targets spanning 0.2–62,000 mm² (a 3500× size range), covering contact-area ratios from 1/3500× to 88× the gripper’s own area. The gripper excels in underwater operation, fragile-object handling, and liquid capture. This work establishes a new paradigm for universal soft manipulation.

Technology Category

• Intelligent Robots: Manipulation
• Computer Vision: Biometrics, Face, Gesture & Pose
• Humans and AI: Interaction Techniques and Devices

Application Category

• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Applied ML and AI for Web-based mobile applications
• Graph Algorithms and Modeling for the Web: Efficient manipulation of static and dynamic Web-related graphs
• Responsible Web: Machine-in-the-loop, human agency and autonomy

Abstract

Grasping objects across vastly different sizes and physical states-including both solids and liquids-with a single robotic gripper remains a fundamental challenge in soft robotics. We present the Everything-Grasping (EG) Gripper, a soft end-effector that synergistically integrates distributed surface suction with internal granular jamming, enabling cross-scale and cross-state manipulation without requiring airtight sealing at the contact interface with target objects. The EG Gripper can handle objects with surface areas ranging from sub-millimeter scale 0.2 mm2 (glass bead) to over 62,000 mm2 (A4 sized paper and woven bag), enabling manipulation of objects nearly 3,500X smaller and 88X larger than its own contact area (approximated at 707 mm2 for a 30 mm-diameter base). We further introduce a tactile sensing framework that combines liquid detection and pressure-based suction feedback, enabling real-time differentiation between solid and liquid targets. Guided by the actile-Inferred Grasping Mode Selection (TIGMS) algorithm, the gripper autonomously selects grasping modes based on distributed pressure and voltage signals. Experiments across diverse tasks-including underwater grasping, fragile object handling, and liquid capture-demonstrate robust and repeatable performance. To our knowledge, this is the first soft gripper to reliably grasp both solid and liquid objects across scales using a unified compliant architecture.

Problem

• Handling objects of vastly different sizes and physical states with one gripper
• Integrating suction and granular jamming for cross-scale manipulation without sealing
• Developing tactile sensing to differentiate between solid and liquid targets

Innovation

• Synergistic suction-grasping with granular jamming
• Tactile sensing for solid-liquid differentiation
• Autonomous grasping mode selection algorithm