Related papers: MELEGROS: Monolithic Elephant-inspired Gripper wit…
The logarithmic spiral is observed as a common pattern in several living beings across kingdoms and species. Some examples include fern shoots, prehensile tails, and soft limbs like octopus arms and elephant trunks. In the latter cases,…
Soft grippers are receiving growing attention due to their compliance-based interactive safety and dexterity. Hybrid gripper (soft actuators enhanced by rigid constraints) is a new trend in soft gripper design. With right structural…
One of the trendsetting themes in soft robotics has been the goal of developing the ultimate universal soft robotic gripper. One that is capable of manipulating items of various shapes, sizes, thicknesses, textures, and weights. All the…
A key challenge in robotics is to create efficient methods for grasping objects with diverse shapes, sizes, poses, and properties. Grasping with hand-like end effectors often requires careful selection of hand orientation and finger…
Biological systems, such as the octopus, exhibit masterful cross-scale manipulation by adaptively reconfiguring their entire form, a capability that remains elusive in robotics. Conventional soft grippers, while compliant, are mostly…
We introduce the Grasp EveryThing (GET) gripper, a novel 1-DoF, 3-finger design for securely grasping objects of many shapes and sizes. Mounted on a standard parallel jaw actuator, the design features three narrow, tapered fingers arranged…
We describe a novel three-finger robot hand that has high resolution tactile sensing along the entire length of each finger. The fingers are compliant, constructed with a soft shell supported with a flexible endoskeleton. Each finger…
In lunar and planetary exploration, legged robots have attracted significant attention as an alternative to conventional wheeled robots, which struggle to traverse rough and uneven terrain. To enable locomotion over highly irregular and…
Grasping is an essential capability for most robots in practical applications. Soft robotic grippers are considered as a critical part of robotic grasping and have attracted considerable attention in terms of the advantages of the high…
Grasping objects across vastly different sizes and physical states-including both solids and liquids-with a single robotic gripper remains a fundamental challenge in soft robotics. We present the Everything-Grasping (EG) Gripper, a soft…
Keratin composites enable animals to hike with hooves, fly with feathers, and sense with skin. These distinct functions arise from variations in the underlying properties and microscale arrangement of this natural polymer. One well-studied…
Realizing a soft manipulator with biologically comparable flexibility and versatility often requires careful selection of materials and actuation, as well as attentive design of its structure, perception, and control. Here, we report a new…
Contact-rich manipulation in unstructured environments demands precise, multimodal perception to enable robust and adaptive control. Vision-based tactile sensors (VBTSs) have emerged as an effective solution; however, conventional VBTSs…
Over the past few decades, efforts have been made towards robust robotic grasping, and therefore dexterous manipulation. The soft gripper has shown their potential in robust grasping due to their inherent properties-low, control complexity,…
Handling oversized, variable-shaped, or delicate objects in transportation, grasping tasks is extremely challenging, mainly due to the limitations of the gripper's shape and size. This paper proposes a novel gripper, Lasso Gripper. Inspired…
Fruit harvesting remains predominantly a labor-intensive process, motivating the development of research for robotic grippers. Conventional rigid or vacuum-driven grippers require complex mechanical design or high energy consumption.…
One of the key problems in active materials is the control of shape through actuation. A fascinating example of such control is the elephant trunk, a long, muscular, and extremely dexterous organ with multiple vital functions. The elephant…
Application of soft and compliant joints in grasping mechanisms received an increasing attention during recent years. This article suggests the design and development of a novel bio-inspired compliant finger which is composed of a 3D…
Rapid and versatile object manipulation in air is an open challenge. An energy-efficient and adaptive soft gripper combined with an agile aerial vehicle could revolutionize aerial robotic manipulation in areas such as warehousing. This…
Growing global demand for food, coupled with continuing labor shortages, motivates the need for automated agricultural harvesting. While some specialty crops (e.g., apples, peaches, blueberries) can be harvested via existing harvesting…