Development of Active Soft Robotic Manipulators for Stable Grasping Under Slippery Conditions

Due to the requirements of industrial automation, soft manipulators are increasingly used in machinery manufacturing, metallurgy, and other fields. Typically, a manipulator is only suited to handle objects in ideal dry conditions, which limits the applications of these actuators. To solve the above-mentioned shortcomings in traditional grippers, this paper presents a friction-enhanced soft manipulator that has good flexibility and high interactivity and safety and is also equipped with a bionic nanofiber array film to provide stronger friction under slippery conditions. A polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) nanofiber array film for increasing the friction of the soft manipulator was fabricated. A suitable manufacturing method for preparing the nanofiber array film was presented. The contact angle of the prepared nanofiber array film was measured. The experimental results showed that the soft robot manipulator performs extremely well under slippery conditions.