Design of a Single Actuated Soft Gripper with Compliant Mechanisms

Traditional mechanical grippers are not always adequate due to the wide variety of industries using robotic manipulators. There is currently a high demand for grippers that can effectively adapt to grasp a wider variety of objects – especially those that are fragile or deformable – without damaging them. Current gripper designs are mostly made of rigid linkages; this makes them stiff and non-adaptive. Their non-adaptiveness is a clear disadvantage when attempting to grasp delicate objects. Soft grippers can be an adequate solution for this problem and their popularity has spiked in recent years. Although some models have been presented, there are still limitations. The present work presents the design of a novel soft gripper that can adapt to the shape of the object and some of the testing performed. In addition, the feasibility of the addition of metamaterials is explored.