In this paper, a novel robotic gripper design with variable stiffness is proposed and fabricated using a modified additive manufacturing (hereafter called 3D printing) process. The gripper is composed of two identical robotic fingers and each finger has three rotational degrees-of-freedom as inspired by human fingers. The finger design is composed of two materials: acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) for the bone segments and shape-memory polymer (SMP) for the finger joints. When the SMP joints are exposed to thermal energy and heated to above their glass transition temperature (Tg), the finger joints exhibit very small stiffness, thus allow easy bending by an external force. When there is no bending force, the finger will restore to its original shape thanks to SMP's shape recovering stress. The finger design is actuated by a pneumatics soft actuator. Fabrication of the proposed robotic finger is made possible by a modified 3D printing process. An analytical model is developed to represent the relationship between the soft actuator's air pressure and the finger's deflection angle. Furthermore, analytical modeling of the finger stiffness modulation is presented. Several experiments are conducted to validate the analytical models.
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December 2016
Research-Article
Novel Design and Three-Dimensional Printing of Variable Stiffness Robotic Grippers
Yang Yang,
Yang Yang
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
The University of Hong Kong,
Hong Kong 999077, China
e-mail: meyang@hku.hk
The University of Hong Kong,
Hong Kong 999077, China
e-mail: meyang@hku.hk
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Yonghua Chen,
Yonghua Chen
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
The University of Hong Kong,
Hong Kong 999077, China
e-mail: yhchen@hku.hk
The University of Hong Kong,
Hong Kong 999077, China
e-mail: yhchen@hku.hk
Search for other works by this author on:
Ying Wei,
Ying Wei
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
The University of Hong Kong,
Hong Kong 999077, China
e-mail: u3001913@hku.hk
The University of Hong Kong,
Hong Kong 999077, China
e-mail: u3001913@hku.hk
Search for other works by this author on:
Yingtian Li
Yingtian Li
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
The University of Hong Kong,
Hong Kong 999077, China
e-mail: liyingtiantj@gmail.com
The University of Hong Kong,
Hong Kong 999077, China
e-mail: liyingtiantj@gmail.com
Search for other works by this author on:
Yang Yang
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
The University of Hong Kong,
Hong Kong 999077, China
e-mail: meyang@hku.hk
The University of Hong Kong,
Hong Kong 999077, China
e-mail: meyang@hku.hk
Yonghua Chen
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
The University of Hong Kong,
Hong Kong 999077, China
e-mail: yhchen@hku.hk
The University of Hong Kong,
Hong Kong 999077, China
e-mail: yhchen@hku.hk
Ying Wei
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
The University of Hong Kong,
Hong Kong 999077, China
e-mail: u3001913@hku.hk
The University of Hong Kong,
Hong Kong 999077, China
e-mail: u3001913@hku.hk
Yingtian Li
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
The University of Hong Kong,
Hong Kong 999077, China
e-mail: liyingtiantj@gmail.com
The University of Hong Kong,
Hong Kong 999077, China
e-mail: liyingtiantj@gmail.com
1Corresponding author.
Manuscript received September 30, 2015; final manuscript received May 9, 2016; published online September 8, 2016. Assoc. Editor: Satyandra K. Gupta.
J. Mechanisms Robotics. Dec 2016, 8(6): 061010 (15 pages)
Published Online: September 8, 2016
Article history
Received:
September 30, 2015
Revised:
May 9, 2016
Citation
Yang, Y., Chen, Y., Wei, Y., and Li, Y. (September 8, 2016). "Novel Design and Three-Dimensional Printing of Variable Stiffness Robotic Grippers." ASME. J. Mechanisms Robotics. December 2016; 8(6): 061010. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4033728
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