Topology Synthesis, Prototype, and Test of an Industrial Robot Gripper with 3D Printed Compliant Fingers for Handling of Fragile Objects

Abstract

This study presents the design of an innovative soft robotic gripper which consists of one linear actuator and two identical topology optimized compliant fingers. Both fingers can be actuated by one displacement input, and can deform elastically to execute the gripping motion. A topology optimization method is presented to synthesize the compliant finger. The developed finger is a monolithic compliant mechanism prototyped by 3D printing using flexible thermoplastic filament. The proposed gripper module is mounted on a six-axis industrial robot to demonstrate its capability in handing of fragile objects such as apple, glass cup, egg, water balloon, and balloon. The proposed compliant gripper is a low-cost, sensor-less design which can be used in adaptive grasping of size-varied fragile objects.