On the development of a compliant grasping mechanism for online handling of live objects. I. Analytical model

This paper presents the design, modeling and analysis of a novel compliant mechanism for automating the process of transferring live objects from a moving conveyor to a moving processing line. Unlike industrial man-made objects, natural objects are typically characterized by varying sizes and shapes in batch processing and their natural reflexes (or voluntarily motion) contribute to the overall dynamics. The dynamic model of the manipulating system consists of two parts: the forces acting on the object and the natural reflexes of the live object to the manipulation. In this paper an analytical model is presented to predict the forces/moments acting on the live objects.