Design of an Underactuated, Flexure-Based Gripper, Actuated Through a Push–Pull Flexure

Koen Dwarshuis*, Jan de Jong, Dannis Michel Brouwer

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

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Abstract

The design of grippers for the agro-industry is challenging. To be cost-effective, the picked object should be moved around fast requiring a firm grip on the fruit of different hardnesses, shapes, and sizes without causing damage. This article presents a self-adaptive flexure-based gripper design optimized for high acceleration loads. A main novelty is that it is actuated through a push–pull flexure that is loaded in tension when the gripper closes, allowing it to handle high actuation forces without the risk of buckling. To create a robust gripper that can handle relatively high loads, flexures are used that are reinforced and have a thickness variation over the length. The optimal thickness distribution of these flexures is derived analytically to facilitate the design process. The derived principles are generally applicable to flexure hinges. The resulting advanced cartwheel flexure joint, as used in this gripper, has a 2.5 times higher support stiffness and a 1.5 times higher buckling load when compared to
a conventional cartwheel joint of the same size and actuation stiffness. The PP-gripper is numerically optimized for a high pull-out force, using analytical design insights as a starting point. The gripper can grip circular objects with radii between 30 and 40 mm. The pull-out force is 21.4 N, with a maximum actuation force of 100 N. Good correspondence is found between the geometric design approach, the numerically optimized design, and the results of the experimental validation
Original languageEnglish
Article number061009
Number of pages18
JournalJournal of mechanisms and robotics
Volume17
Issue number6
Early online date12 Dec 2024
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print/First online - 12 Dec 2024

Keywords

  • grasping, fixturing and multi-finger hands, kinematics, dynamics and control of mechanical systems, mechanism synthesis and analysis, mechanisms and robots, theoretical and computational kinematics

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