Adaptive Mechanical Jaws Based on Underactuated Systems

Abstract

In the traditional fruit industry, farmers have a lot of fruit to pick in a short period of time when the harvest season approaches. They had to hire additional labor during the harvesting season because the fruit needed to be harvested accurately and quickly. But the additional cost of hiring seasonal workers puts more burden on farmers, especially during the COVID-19 outbreak. Therefore, this paper designs a robotic gripper with an arm and adaptive fingertips. The flexibility of the gripper allows it to grasp fruits of any shape and size without dropping or causing any deformation. In addition, motors and wheels can be added to the base of the arm and moved to the next tree. Using Arduino Nano as the controller, the device can use APP to achieve wireless Bluetooth control, easy to operate. The mechanical claw is driven by a three-jaw structure with only a single drive and adaptive function to complete the gripping action, and the mechanical claw is driven by a screw motor. The device also has two degrees of freedom, relying on two electric actuators to provide lifting action. The mechanical jaws have a human wrist-like rotation effect and can imitate the human hand when picking fruits.