Upscaling of soft material grippers to heavy duty applications in handling and assembly

Soft material grippers are attractive for flexible production because of their compliant adaptation to workpieces. Unfortunately, payload of such grippers is low, which inhibits widespread industrial applicability. This paper investigates the upscaling of such grippers to extend their applicability to heavy payload handling and assembly. This applicability is evaluated by pull-off studies, where structural FEM simulations and pull-off experiments are inferred. The first result is a demonstration of the desired applicability and the major effects to be considered in both, upscaled designs and dedicated designs. Second, the simulations are so trustworthy that automated gripping process engineering becomes feasible without pre-experimentation. (c) 2022 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of CIRP.

Automated summary

Soft material grippers, although adaptable to workpieces, have low payload capacity, limiting their industrial applicability. This paper investigates the upscaling of such grippers to handle heavy payloads and assembly. Evaluation of applicability is done through pull-off studies, using structural FEM simulations and experiments. The results demonstrate the desired applicability, major effects to consider in upscaled and dedicated designs, and the feasibility of automated gripping process engineering based on trustworthy simulations.