Tendon Driven Bistable Origami Flexible Gripper for High-Speed Adaptive Grasping

• Published in: IEEE robotics and automation letters Vol. 9; no. 6; pp. 5417 - 5424
• Main Authors: Liu, Weirui, Bai, Xu, Yang, Hui, Bao, Ruixin, Liu, Jiaqi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Piscataway IEEE 01.06.2024; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Angles (geometry); bistable; Deformation; Energy storage; fast response; Fingers; Grasping; Grasping force; Grippers; High speed; Kinematic equations; Kinematics; Mathematical models; Origami structure; Potential energy; tendon driven; Tendons; Torsion springs; Triangles
• ISSN: 2377-3766; 2377-3766
• DOI: 10.1109/LRA.2024.3389413

This letter introduces a novel bistable origami flexible gripper, which is based on a single-vertex and multi-crease (SVMC) origami structure that has several advantages, including a simple structure, low cost, and strong deformation capacity. This design addresses the drawbacks of slow response speed and low grasping efficiency in traditional gripper models. The origami structure is established using a waterbomb model, and the relationship between the crease angles is analyzed by applying the geometric relationship of spherical triangle to establish kinematic equations. In addition, potential energy equations in the deformation of SVMC are derived using a torsion spring model, which parameters are determined by conducting a detailed analysis of the influence of crease length and initial angle on energy storage and release processes. In addition, the tendon drive system helps to provide greater grasping force, promoting efficient and stable target grasping when the SVMC return to the initial state. Experimental results show that when subjected to an external trigger force of 2.65 N, the flexible gripper can transition from a spreading attitude to a contracted state within 61.58 ms, enabling rapid envelopment of the target, dropping the target, and returning to the initial state within 120 ms. These findings suggest that the proposed flexible gripper has significant application in high-speed food sorting and fruit picking.