Abstract
Origami has been a source of inspiration for the design of robots because it can be easily produced using 2D materials and its motions can be well quantified. However, most applications to date have utilised origami patterns for thin sheet materials with a negligible thickness. If the thickness of the material cannot be neglected, commonly known as the thick panel origami, the creases need to be redesigned. One approach is to place creases either on top or bottom surfaces of a sheet of finite thickness. As a result, spherical linkages in the zero-thickness origami are replaced by spatial linkages in the thick panel one, leading to a reduction in the overall degrees of freedom (DOFs). For instance, a waterbomb pattern for a zero-thickness sheet shows multiple DOFs while its thick panel counterpart has only one DOF, which significantly reduces the complexity of motion control. In this article, we present a robotic gripper derived from a unit that is based on the thick panel six-crease waterbomb origami. Four such units complete the gripper. Kinematically, each unit is a plane-symmetric Bricard linkage, and the gripper can be modelled as an assembly of Bricard linkages, giving it single mobility. A gripper prototype was made using 3D printing technology, and its motion was controlled by a set of tendons tied to a single motor. Detailed kinematic modelling was done, and experiments were carried out to characterise the gripper’s behaviours. The positions of the tips on the gripper, the actuation force on tendons, and the grasping force generated on objects were analysed and measured. The experimental results matched well with the analytical ones, and the repeated tests demonstrate that the concept is viable. Furthermore, we observed that the gripper was also capable of grasping non-symmetrical objects, and such performance is discussed in detail in the paper.
Highlights
Originating from the Japanese paper art, origami has been widely used in robotic applications to replace conventional linkages
Made from paper folding and/ or cutting, have shown remarkable progress in grasping-related tasks compared to traditional rigid robots
They are able to manipulate fragile and/or irregularly shaped objects (Jeong and Lee, 2018), Thick Panel Origami Gripper can adapt to various shapes and sizes (Phummapooti et al, 2019), and have the potential to be activated by environmental stimuli for autonomous grasping (Tang et al, 2019)
Summary
Originating from the Japanese paper art, origami has been widely used in robotic applications to replace conventional linkages. Through rotations about pre-defined creases, origami is capable of large-scale geometrical transformation from a 2D sheet to a 3D object with predictable motions (Rus and Tolley, 2018) It enables increased design flexibility and a fast but reliable fabrication process, which are important to developing versatile robots (Lee et al, 2017; Li et al, 2017). Made from paper folding and/ or cutting, have shown remarkable progress in grasping-related tasks compared to traditional rigid robots They are able to manipulate fragile and/or irregularly shaped objects (Jeong and Lee, 2018), Thick Panel Origami Gripper can adapt to various shapes and sizes (Phummapooti et al, 2019), and have the potential to be activated by environmental stimuli for autonomous grasping (Tang et al, 2019). Since paperbased origami grippers require tedious manual work to fold and/ or cut paper sheets and are relatively fragile and prone to fatigue caused by repeated folding and unfolding (Jeong and Lee, 2018), novel manufacturing methods, such as silicone casting (Li et al, 2019), laser cutting (Orlofsky et al, 2020; Yang et al, 2021), and 3D printing (Kan et al, 2019; Lee et al, 2020; Liu et al, 2020), have been introduced in the design process to replace paper origami, thereby further reducing fabrication complexity and enhancing the performance of grippers
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
