Biologically Inspired Gripper Based on the Fin Ray Effect

This research focuses on the 3D design and development of a robotic arm along with a flexible gripper based on the Fin Ray effect. To facilitate the overall construction, the design of a three finger-based gripper is selected, and a single actuator controls all the three fingers. Moreover, the main focus of the research is to determine the ability of the gripper to grip and carry the object of different shapes having a weight up to three kilograms. Thus, the analysis of various 3D printing materials is performed. The primary goal of the material analysis is to find a material with the highest bending and strength properties. The analysis was done on the Static Structural simulation software. Based on the obtained results, NinjaFlex filament showed the highest total deformation and equivalent elastic strain resulting in the highest ability to bend beside two other materials. Therefore, it can be observed that the NinjaFlex is more suitable to achieve the objective of this research.