Holding Performance of an Adaptive Magnetorheological Fluid-Based Robotic Claw

This study addresses the holding performance of an adaptive magnetorheological fluid (MRF)-based robotic claw that can grasp a wide range of objects satisfying various grasping task requirements. To this end, a two-finger type of MRF-based robotic claw was proposed in this study. Two magnetorheological (MR) grippers with MR elastomer (MRE) bladders were mounted at the end of each finger. A target object was placed between these two MR grippers and was grasped by manually adjusting the distance between these two fingers. This adjustment of the distance between the two fingers results in a change in the normal force applied to the object. The holding forces of the MRF-based robotic claw with respect to both applied normal forces and magnetic field strengths were experimentally measured using an Instron material testing machine. From the measured holding forces, the dynamic and static holding forces, controllable holding forces, and holding coefficients were determined for the evaluation of the holding performances of the MRF-based robotic claw. The feasibility of the MRF-based robotic claw was experimentally confirmed.