Design and Validation of Gripper Solution Using Soft Robotics Principles

Soft robotics presents itself as a new path to adopt in several applications in the industry. The area of soft robotics aims to equip robots for unpredictable needs, providing them with capabilities that are based not on control systems, but on the properties of materials and the morphology of their bodies. This work aims the creation of a soft robotics application, more specifically a soft gripper. The development of an original concept of a soft material handler (soft gripper) is intended, capable of performing the stipulated handling functions, through certain actuation mechanisms, meeting the requirements and constraints presented in the next sub-section. The final solution is based on an improvement procedure supported on structural Finite Element (FE) analyses. Cost analysis and prototype construction/validation finalize the evaluation. The gripper was designed, a prototype was executed, and tests were carried out to prove correct operation. These tests were successful showing the project as suitable for a real production environment.