Design parameters of flexible grippers for grasping

Abstract

Flexible-finger hands/grippers have some advantages over rigid ones when used in grasping tasks. For example, they absorb energy during the impact, which make them suitable in delicate manipulation or human interaction. In this work, we look at their performance during grasping tasks, analyzing the effect of some design parameters like precurvature and stiffness of the links, number/DOFs of fingers or scale of the hand. Our work is based on a grasp stability analysis together with a grasp closure analysis adapted to flexible hands. Simulation and experimental tests with a two flexible-finger gripper are provided as validation of our analysis.