Design and Prototyping of Soft Finger AI-Enabled Hand (SofIA)

This paper presents the design and prototype of soft-fingered AI-enabled hand (SofIA) based on the Fin-Ray ® effect. The study proposes a material and method for fabricating soft Fin-Ray fingers by molding them entirely from urethane rubber. SofIA is equipped with a depth camera that provides visual feedback on the state of the fingers, which will be used in the development of a versatile sensing system based on deep learning. Flexible side supports were added to further improve the mechanical performance of the fingers. Using SofIA, a series of experiments were conducted with the original and modified Fin-Ray finger structures to test and validate the desired behaviour of the gripper. It was found that the hand is capable of manipulating objects ranging from 10 mm to 90 mm in diameter, objects up to 90 mm x 90 mm in length and width, and objects with a maximum mass of 400 g in a position parallel to the ground regardless of the object material.