Grasping of Li-ion Batteries via Additively Manufactured Soft Gripper and Collaborative Robot

The demand for Li-ion batteries is growing due to the increasing use of electrical devices. Thus, increasing the automation of their assembly lines is crucial to improve their production. In this work, a pneumatic soft gripper is additively manufactured and integrated in a collaborative robot to accomplish Li-ion batteries grasping and releasing. Due to the material properties, such gripper provides safe interaction and intrinsic adaptability. However, modelling and control of soft grippers are challenging. We opt for a computational FEM model to generate a detailed representation of the interaction, and a proximity sensor is embedded in one of the two soft fingers to close the control loop and detect contacts. Contact forces have been experimentally evaluated, and control parameters have been empirically defined.