Design of Robotic Gripper with Constant Transmission Ratio Based on Twisted String Actuator: Concept and Evaluation

Abstract

Robotic systems for object handling and manipulation are hugely important for modern engineering and industry, with their efficiency, agility and robustness often depending on gripper design and performance. In this work, we investigate a gripper design that, when driven by a twisted string actuator, exhibits nearly-constant transmission ratio throughout its motion range. This allows for design of a highly-compact, modular and efficient robotic gripper driven by a low-power motor. We investigate kinematics of the device, experimentally verify developed models with a practical gripper testbed, and analyze transmission ratio and efficiency of the designed device. The resulting system has a nearly-constant transmission ratio of 550, with the constancy coefficient of 0.985.