A Soft-Touch Gripper for Grasping Delicate Objects

The design of a soft-touch gripper is presented. This gripper consumes less than 60 W of power during grasp or release motions, is self-contained, inherently gentle, and can grasp delicate objects such as fruits or vegetables. The soft-touch gripper utilizes a variable-volume chamber sealed by a thin flexible latex membrane and relies on both friction between the membrane and the object being grasped, and a pressure differential between atmospheric pressure and the volume of trapped air sealed between the membrane and the object being grasped. A simplified analytical model, which can be used to estimate the grip strength of the soft-touch gripper, is developed and experimentally validated.