Optimal kinematic design of a single-DOF planar grasper based on metaheuristic optimization

A method is proposed for optimal synthesis of a grasper mechanism for circular objects. A single-DOF linkage-type grasper is developed considering the geometry of the target objects. The mechanism consists of successive coupled four-bar linkages and is capable of grasping circular objects with desirable range of diameter. The synthesis problem is formulated as a constraint optimization problem, while adaptive inertia weight particle swarm optimization (AIW-PSO) approach is used to carry out the solutions. Biomechanical and industrial applications for the mechanism are suggested and investigated by simulations as case studies. To demonstrate the effectiveness of AIW-PSO on the problem, a comparison with two other well-known metaheuristic algorithms namely PSO and genetic algorithm is done. The results show the efficiency of the proposed algorithm and the performance of the mechanism.