Wiring-Claw Gripper for Soft-Stable Picking up Multiple Objects

Abstract

Efficiently picking up multiple objects is an emergent challenge for soft robotics. Our work focused on a novel gripper in picking up multiple objects in one grasping trial. The objects contacted softly with multiple elastic wires pre-stretch on the finger skeletons. This integration created a novel hybrid claw that inherited both the stability of the finger skeleton and the soft interaction of the wire. This wiring-claw gripper was designed and set up for conducting experimental evaluations in grasping seven kinds of objects: craft sticks, glue bottles, tea packs, candy pieces, powder packs, pyramids, and spheres. The experimental outcomes presented that our gripper design achieved high success rates in gripping multiple objects per trial at three levels of the lifting velocity. Additionally, the wiring-claw gripper generated soft interaction and was highly adaptive with diverse objects. The outcomes of this study are expected to efficiently pick up various objects at each trial without requiring sensing systems and complicated controls.