Three-Fingered Soft Robotic Gripper Based on Pneumatic Network Actuator

A lot of research is conducted in the area of gripper on manipulator arm. They still use hard robot technology made from rigid material. Hard gripper will be difficult when it is used to grasp and hold fragile objects such as eggs or grapes. Recently, many engineers and scientists who work in robotics in the world have developed soft robot technology that is applied to the gripper. In this paper, we present the development of three-fingered soft robotic griper based on pneumatic networks. Soft robotics fingers are manufactured using elastomeric material; silicon rubber (RTV 52). Soft finger molding material is produced using Polylactic acid (PLA) material and printed using 3D printer. The gripper can perform in a positive and negative pressure room. The actuator utilized in the soft robotic gripper is a mini air compressor. The performance of the proposed soft robotic gripper is tested for various grasping objects from hard to fragile objects in positive and negative pressure. Based on the test result, the developed soft gripper can take and grasp hard and delicate objects that have a mass less than 500 gr under positive pressure.