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arXiv · 2302.02534

Variable Stiffness Improves Safety and Performance in Soft Robotics

Mert Aydin·Emre Sariyildiz·Charbel Dalely Tawk·Rahim Mutlu·Gursel Alici
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Abstract

This paper proposes a new variable stiffness soft gripper that enables high-performance grasping tasks in industrial applications. The design of the proposed monolithic soft gripper includes a middle bellow and two side bellows (i.e., fingers). The positions of the fingers are regulated by adjusting the negative pressure in the middle bellow actuator via an on-off controller. The stiffness of the soft gripper is modulated by controlling the positive pressure in the fingers through the use of a proportional air-pressure regulator. It is experimentally shown that the proposed soft gripper can modulate its stiffness by 125% within 250ms. It is also shown that the variable stiffness soft gripper can help improve the safety and performance of grasping tasks in industrial applications.

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Mert Aydin, Emre Sariyildiz, Charbel Dalely Tawk, Rahim Mutlu, Gursel Alici. 2023-02-06. Variable Stiffness Improves Safety and Performance in Soft Robotics. https://arxiv.org/abs/2302.02534

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